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THE HOLY ANGELS 









The HOLY ANGELS 


BY 

Rev. RAPHAEL V. O’CONNELL, S. J. 

\\ 




NEW YORK 
P. J. KENEDY & SONS 
Publishers to the Holy A postolic See 




















imprtmt JJotest: 

Josephus H. Rockwell, S. J. 
Praeposilus Prov. Marylandix Neo-Eboracensis 

jfrilnl ©bfitat: 

Arthurus J. Scanlan, S.T.D. 
Censor Librorum 


imprimatur: 

Patritius J. Hayes, D.D. 
A rch iep iscop us Neo-Eboracens is 

NEO-EBORACI 

die 10, Maii 1923 



COPYRIGHT, 1923, BY 
P. J. KENEDY & SONS 
PRINTED IN U. S. A. 


SEP 13 *23 

©C1A711948 


•up | 


MARY 

QUEEN OF ANGELS 


PREFACE 


O NE might safely say that there are com¬ 
paratively few who are well informed 
in what relates to the holy angels. Probably 
the knowledge of the great majority of Chris¬ 
tians on this subject does not extend beyond 
the most elementary truths. It is, however, 
a regrettable fact for more than one reason. 
For, in the first place, what God has revealed 
to us in Holy Writ is all meant for our spir¬ 
itual advantage, and that advantage will 
surely be greater in proportion as we ponder 
over the inspired text more seriously and 
more lovingly, and thus dispose our hearts 
better for the fruit that is intended to be 
gathered. 

Then, while it may appear that very little 

has been made known to us concerning those 

• • 

Vll 



Vlll 


PREFACE 


blessed spirits, we must bear in mind that in 
Holy Scripture a few words often contain an 
ample fund of truth, and frequently open up 
a rich vein, which, if it is pursued with dili¬ 
gence and perseverance, will put us in posses¬ 
sion of a most precious treasure. 

Thus it is that the great Doctors of the 
Church, and the learned commentators on 
Holy Scripture are able to expand to such 
length the inspired utterances of the sacred 
writers, and to enlarge so much the scope of 
our knowledge of divine things. To be sure, 
their conclusions in many instances are not 
certain with the certainty of faith, but that is 
no valid objection to them on our part, when 
we have so often to content ourselves, in the 
realm of the merely natural sciences, with 
much that is at best but conjecture and 
hypothesis. 

The subjects which Catholic theology deals 
with are so sublime that even an incomplete 
knowledge of them is to be highly esteemed 


PREFACE 


IX 


and considered preferable to a much fuller 
acquaintance with the physical sciences. 
These latter may serve us for the improvement 
of our temporal life, but the former is the 
science of the saints, and should stimulate us 
to an earnest effort to deserve by daily 
meditation that supernatural light and guid¬ 
ance which alone can enable us to penetrate 
within the veil. 

Meanwhile it is a great thing for us that 
we are able to discern even dimly the 
mysteries of that inner world which is all 
about us, but of which few have any percep¬ 
tion. It is much that we can at least stand 
on the threshold of that mighty temple 
wherein God shows Himself to the elect in 
unclouded majesty, and that our eyes, if they 
may not now behold Him as He is, may yet 
catch some faint glimpse of “the glory to 
come that shall (one day) be revealed in us.” 

The following pages are intended to pre¬ 
sent to the reader, in a systematic way, some 


X 


PREFACE 


clear notions about the angels and their hier¬ 
archies. The writer, while aiming at a 
certain measure of completeness in the 
handling of his subject, has sought at the 
same time to avoid any lengthy discussion of 
questions that might appear too abstruse. 
One omission however, which is not justified 
on that particular ground, may be noted—it 
is the omission of a separate and detailed 
treatment of the reprobate angels, and espe¬ 
cially of the nature of their punishment and 
the activities which they are permitted to ex¬ 
ercise in this upper world, whether for the 
chastisement of sinners, or for the trial of the 
just. Suffice it to say, that anything more 
than a brief and passing reference did not 
come within the writer’s present purpose, 
which is mainly the promotion of devotion 
to the holy angels. If it should seem advis¬ 
able, however, some chapters dealing ex¬ 
pressly with the evil spirits might be added 
to a future edition of the book. Meanwhile, 



PREFACE 


XI 


it only remains for the writer to give expres¬ 
sion to the hope that the following pages may 
awaken in the reader a greater interest in the 
angels, and may help to beget in him an ha¬ 
bitual consciousness of their presence, a cer¬ 
tain holy familiarity with them, and a loving 
confidence in their protection. 






CONTENTS 


CHAPTER PAGE 

Preface . v 

I. An Invisible World .... 3 

II. Existence of the Angels . . 6 

III. What the Angels Are ... 11 

IV. Views of Some Fathers . . 14 

V. Angelic Apparitions — How 

the Angels Appeared . . 18 

OLD TESTAMENT. 18 

VI. Angelic Apparitions — How 
the Angels Appeared 

( cont .) .24 

NEW TESTAMENT. 24 

VII. Angelic Attributes. 32 

VIII. The Angelic Mind. 35 

IX. The Angelic Will. 41 

X. The Trial of the Angels . 44 

XI. The Speech of Angels ... 47 

XII. Presence in Space-Activity . 52 

XIII. The Flight of Angels ... 57 

XIV. The Angels and Time ... 59 

XV. The Occupations of Angels 62 

XVI. The Angelic Hierarchy ... 69 

XVII. Are All the Angels of One 

Species ?. 75 

XVIII. The Nine Choirs. 80 

ANGELS. 81 

ARCHANGELS . 82 

PRINCIPALITIES . 83 


xm 


















CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XIX. The Nine Choirs ( cont .) ... 85 

powers. 85 

virtues . 86 

DOMINATIONS. 88 

XX. The Nine Choirs ( cont .) ... 89 

the thrones. 89 

XXI. The Nine Choirs ( cont .) ... 92 

the cherubim. 92 

XXII. The Nine Choirs ( cont .) . . . 100 

the seraphim.100 

XXIII. Angels in Attendance — 

Ministering Angels . . 104 

XXIV. Are the Angels Many?. . . Ill 

XXV. Our Guardian Angels ... 119 

CATHOLIC TEACHING .... 119 

XXVI. Our Guardian Angels ( cont .) 130 
WHAT THEY DO FOR US . . . 130 

XXVII. Our Guardian Angels ( cont .) 136 

AFTER DEATH.136 

XXVIII. Our Guardian Angels ( cont .) 139 

HOW WE SHOULD REQUITE 

THEIR LOVE.139 

XXIX. Angels’ Names.147 

XXX. Saint Michael.151 

in the church.151 

XXXI. Saint Michael ( cont .) .... 160 

AMID THE ANGELIC HOSTS . . 160 

XXXII. The Angel Gabriel .... 165 

XXXIII. The Angel Raphael .... 175 

XXXIV. The Seven before the Throne 189 
XXXV. The Queen of Angels . . . 199 

Epilogue.207 


XIV 



















EXISTENCE AND NATURE OF THE 

ANGELS 








THE HOLY ANGELS 

CHAPTER I 


An Invisible World 

Upon the thickly-peopled earth, 

In ever ceaseless flow, 

Pull thrice ten thousand deathless beings 
Pass lightly to and fro. 

Keepers of mortal men unseen, 

In airy vesture dight, 

Their good and evil deeds they scan, 

Stern champions of the right. 

Hesiod, Works and Days, (V. 252 ff.) 

I T is somewhat startling to meet with a pas¬ 
sage like the above in an old pagan au¬ 
thor. It comes so near to expressing the con¬ 
soling Catholic doctrine on holy guardian an¬ 
gers, that we have good reason to be surprised 
as we read it. Is it, perhaps, a relic of primi¬ 
tive tradition? It would certainly not be 
rash to think so. On the other hand, it was 
so common a thing among the ancient heathen 


4 THE HOLY ANGELS 

to people all nature with deities of their own 
invention, that we may have here only a par¬ 
ticular manifestation of that tendency. 

There are people who have felt aggrieved 
that the dazzling light of Christianity came to 
dispel the pleasing illusions of paganism. As 
if the truth were not preferable to error, and 
far grander too, and more beautiful, even 
where it offers less material for the imagina¬ 
tion to feed upon! For after all, the imag¬ 
ination is an inferior faculty, and the delights 
of which it is the source, are on a far lower 
plane than the pleasures of intellect; espe¬ 
cially, they cannot compare with the pure joys 
of the mind that is guided and uplifted by 
faith. 

To know the one true God with that clear¬ 
ness and that certainty which have come with 
the Christian religion; to have been taught the 
great mysteries of the Holy Trinity and the 
incarnation of the Son of God, is a sublime 
heritage, and he who has been deemed worthy 


THE HOLY ANGELS 5 

of it, has that within him which is meant to 
unfold itself little by little until in heaven it 
opens out into the full and beatifying vision 
of God. 

Meanwhile, besides our certain knowl¬ 
edge of the existence of God, of His infinite 
perfection, and of His boundless love for us, 
we have also the assurance of the presence in 
the world about us of a multitude of glorious 
beings, friendly to us, deeply solicitous in 
our behalf, our elder brethren, in fact, 
charged by our common Father to watch over 
us and to lead us safely through a host of dan¬ 
gers to our happy home in heaven. 

It may not be surprising that we pay so 
little heed to these our zealous guardians— 
for we find it hard to emancipate ourselves 
from the thraldom of the sensible world, and 
correspondingly hard to lift ourselves to 
higher things—but it surely means some loss 
to us that we are not more mindful of them, 
more trustful towards them, and more filled 



6 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


with a sense of grateful appreciation of the 
loving kindness of our heavenly Father in 
making such merciful provision for our 
frailty. 

We shall do well, then, to rouse ourselves 
and to strive to acquire the habit of appealing 
to them in our needs, and we may be quite 
sure that the results will more than repay us 
for whatever our fidelity in this respect may 
cost us. 


CHAPTER II 

Existence of the Angels 

T HE mere light of reason does not assure 
us of the truth that there exists a whole 
world of invisible beings far more perfect 
than ourselves, and deputed by God to watch 
over us and shield us from harm. There are 
indeed certain facts, apart from revelation, 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


7 


which suggest the existence of malign in¬ 
fluences bent upon deluding and injuring us. 
Such are the phenomena of spiritism, which, 
when they are not mere trickery and illusion, 
often bear the marks and produce the sinister 
effects of works proceeding from the powers 
of darkness. But the good angels pursue 
their ways noiselessly, leaving no trace by 
which we can discern with certainty, or per¬ 
haps even suspect, their beneficent working. 

It is faith which renders us certain of their 
existence. The pages of Holy Writ are full 
of references to them, and to the errands 
of mercy on which they have been employed 
in our behalf. We have moreover the ex¬ 
press assurance of St. Paul that they are “all 
ministering spirits, sent to minister for them, 
who shall receive the inheritance of salva¬ 
tion.” ( Heb . i , 14) Among the instances 
on record of their merciful intervention in 
human affairs, there is in the Old Testament 
the beautiful vision which Jacob had of the 


8 THE HOLY ANGELS 

ladder stretching from earth to heaven, 
whereon were angels ascending and descend¬ 
ing. Earlier still an angel stayed the hand 
of Abraham as he was about to plunge the 
knife into the breast of his beloved son, and 
promised him in the name of God to multiply 
his seed as the stars of heaven and as the 
sand that is by the seashore, and to bless in 
him all the nations of the earth. 

Again, an angel comforted Agar in her 
sore distress and pointed out to her a well 
where she could find water for her dying boy. 
An angel led the people of Israel into the 
lands of the heathen nations which God gave 
them after their departure out of Egypt. 
And later under King Ezechias an angel of 
the Lord slew in a single night a hundred and 
eighty-five thousand of the army of Sennache¬ 
rib, the Assyrian King, who boastfully threat¬ 
ened to capture Jerusalem, and carry off its 
people into slavery. (4 Kings xix) 

Mention of the holy angels occurs fre- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 9 

quently, too, in the Psalms and in the prophe¬ 
cies. For instance, an angel of the Lord bade 
Habacuc in Judea, bear to Daniel in the lions’ 
den at Babylon, the food he had prepared for 
the reapers, and catching him up by the hair 
of his head, transported him in an instant 
from the one place to the other, and set him 
down beside the lions’ den. (Dan. xiv 9 33) 
Hence it is clear that in the Old Testa¬ 
ment alone, we have ample Scriptural war¬ 
rant for our belief in the angels, and the New 
Testament is quite as explicit. Our Divine 
Lord himself alludes to Jacob’s vision when 
He speaks of angels ascending and descend¬ 
ing upon the Son of Man. He also repre¬ 
sents to us the angels of the little ones who 
believe in Him as ever beholding the face 
of His Father who is in heaven, giving us in 
these words the surest basis for what the 
. Church teaches us with respect to our guard¬ 
ian angels. 

The Angel Gabriel, who four centuries pre- 


10 THE HOLY ANGELS 

viously had appeared to the Prophet Daniel, 
declaring to him the time of the coming of 
the Messias, appears also in the blessed ful¬ 
ness of time, first to Zachary, to tell of the 
birth of the Precursor, and then to our ever 
blessed Lady, to announce the advent of the 
Redeemer himself. And when our Lord was 
born in the stable at Bethlehem, a whole host 
of angels celebrated the event with glad ac¬ 
claim, rejoicing that at length the divine 
promise to our race was fulfilled. 

There is no doubt then of the existence of 
the holy angels, and it remains for us to con¬ 
sider their nature and their gifts, that we may 
be filled with admiration for them and that 
our hearts may expand with holy joy at the 
thought that one day we shall see them as 
they are—those glorious beings, those count¬ 
less throngs—and be united with them in the 
bonds of close and everlasting intimacy. 



THE HOLY ANGELS 


11 


CHAPTER III 

What the Angels Are 

% V THEN we say that the angels are pure 
W spirits, we know, of course, what we 
mean to assert but we do not always grasp 
(perhaps it would be more correct to say, we 
do not always fully realize) what the expres¬ 
sion implies. Our knowledge is all received 
through the senses, and what we know posi¬ 
tively, and without the help of negations, is 
some material, sensible object, having sen¬ 
sible qualities such as size, shape and color; 
or it is some abstract notion of the mind, such 
as being, substance, cause and the like, which 
does not of itself either imply or exclude the 
limitations of matter. 

To know anything that is positively im¬ 
material and not a mere abstraction, we must 

have recourse to negation. The word im¬ 
material itself is evidence of this. We must 


12 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


make use of such elements of thought as our 
experience supplies, and deny , at the same 
time, certain imperfections which are inherent 
in all material things. Thus a pure spirit is 
one that has no body, that was never intended 
for union with the body, that has no aptitude 
for such union—that is, such union as 
would make of the two, one compound 
substance. 

We try to make more clear our description 
of a pure spirit by noting that it is a substance 
which is not matter, which does not, in its 
operations, depend upon matter and which, 
furthermore, in its qualities and attributes is 
superior to material substances. 

When we assert that a spirit is not matter, 
that is not enough to lift it up above the order 
of material things. Material things have a 
substantial form that is not of itself, matter; 
still less is the vital principle of plants and 
animals in itself, matter. But these sub¬ 
stantial forms are undoubtedly material in 



THE HOLY ANGELS 13 

the sense that they are dependent upon matter 
for all their operations. 

When we speak of spirit, or spiritual sub¬ 
stance, we mean something that in itself is 
not matter; and also (at least in its higher 
operations) is independent of matter. That 
is to say, it is independent of any material 
organ as co-principle of its acts. And if 
there is question of a pure spirit, the latter 
has no operations in which a bodily organ has 
or can have part. 

It is, then, in this particular sense that we 
use the word pure when we speak of the angels 
as pure spirits. There is no question here of 
moral purity. The human soul is not a pure 
spirit, but is by nature, wedded to the body; 
and yet the human soul may be endowed with 
the most perfect moral purity, as is the case, 
for instance, with our Immaculate Mother, or 
with the souls of the saints in general. On 
the contrary, the demons are pure spirits in 
the sense in which we are using the term now. 


14 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


and yet we all know how hideous they are 
from the moral point of view. 

In our next chapter we shall consider 
Catholic teaching concerning the nature of 
angels, in relation to the sources of religious 
truth and especially with respect to the atti¬ 
tude of the Fathers of the Church. 


CHAPTER IV 


Views of Some Fathers 



HE foregoing doctrine in answer to the 


1 question “What are angels?” is not 
strictly a matter of faith. It has not been de¬ 
fined. Yet it is certain, and a contrary opin¬ 
ion would surely be rash, in view of the 
unanimity of Catholic theologians and the 
plain teaching of the Lateran Council. 
Nevertheless, certain Fathers of the Church 
have held a different view, or have at least 
expressed themselves ambiguously, or have 


THE HOLY ANGELS 15 

hesitated to pronounce an opinion on the 
subject. 

The hesitancy of some, or even the posi¬ 
tive divergence of opinion on their part, 
would not of course be conclusive against the 
spirituality of the angels. To offset their au¬ 
thority we have that of others who are quite 
explicit in denying that the angels have 
bodies; as St. John Damascene, who affirms 
that the angels are intelligent substances with¬ 
out matter or body. The most then that can 
be deduced from the disagreement of the 
Fathers, is that the question is one that must 
be decided by other arguments. 

It may be said, however, that at least some 
of those who dissent from what is now the 
accepted teaching of the Church, are in all 
likelihood not employing terms in the usual 
sense, or are speaking metaphorically. Thus, 
when they speak of the angels as corporeal , 
the word has, not its obvious meaning, but 
signifies “limited in point of space,” or “lack- 


16 THE HOLY ANGELS 

ing in absolute simplicity.” And when they 
apply the terms fire, ether, and the like, it is 
only to express in a graphic way certain attri¬ 
butes of the angels to which the qualities of 
these material substances bear a special re¬ 
semblance. 

Or again, it may be that some who seem to 
disagree with the view now universally held 
in the Church, are to be understood, not as 
ascribing to the angels a body as part of their 
nature, but as referring to a body momen¬ 
tarily assumed, or, in the case of the wicked 
angels, permanently assigned to them as an 
instrument of suffering. 

But however we may explain the opinions of 
certain of the Fathers, there is no doubt that 
in Holy Scripture the angels are often called 
spirits without any qualifying word; nor is 
there anywhere question of the souls of 
angels. Yet had they a body (whether like 
ours or of a more subtle, ethereal kind) com¬ 
bined in unity of nature with a spiritual sub- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 17 

stance, the latter would be the soul or vital 
principle of the compound and we should ex¬ 
pect to find it spoken of as such. If this is 
not the case, and if on the contrary the hu¬ 
man soul is never described by the word 
spirit without further qualification, the in¬ 
ference seems obvious that the angels are pure 
spirits—that is, spirits not naturally capable 
of union with a body. 

The Council of Lateran, to which we have 
already referred, has this plain testimony, 
where it defines that God, “by His almighty 
power brought both creations out of nothing, 
that of spirit, and that of bodies; that is to 
say, that of angels and that of the world, and 
then that of man, as akin to both, being com¬ 
posed of spirit and of body.” Here the an¬ 
tithesis between body and spirit excludes the 
idea of the angels having like man a com¬ 
posite nature. He is made up of body and 
soul, but they are pure spirits. No wonder 
that with so clear a pronouncement to guide 


18 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


them, Catholic theologians are unanimous in 
maintaining the spirituality of the angels. 


CHAPTER V 

Angelic Apparitions —How the 
Angels Appeared 

OLD TESTAMENT 

I T is noteworthy that the earliest mention 
of the good angels in Holy Scripture is 
one in which they appear as instruments of 
God’s vengeance, and not as discharging in 
our regard their usual offices of beneficence. 
No doubt they are our friends, most solici¬ 
tous for our eternal welfare, and eager to see 
us settled as co-heirs with them of the king¬ 
dom of Heaven; but their first allegiance is 
to God and if we prove false to Him, they 
will rise up at the last day as our accusers 
and separating us from the legions of the 
just, will assign us our place with the apostate 
angels and the other reprobates. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 19 

When our first parents transgressed the 
commandment of God, He cast them forth 
from the Garden of Eden, and set cherubim 
with flaming swords at its portals to guard 
every approach to the tree of life (Gen, Hi, 
24) lest they should eat of it and live for¬ 
ever. It is not said in what form the angels 
appeared, or whether they were seen at all 
by Adam and Eve, although the mention of 
swords would seem to imply a visible pres¬ 
ence and a visible threat. Certainly so un¬ 
equivocal a menace, showing to the banished 
fair the utter hopelessness of their lot, must 
have precluded forever any attempt on their 
part at regaining their former home. 

The angels who appeared to Abraham as 
he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the 
day (Gen. xviii), were apparently like ordi¬ 
nary travelers, whose feet could be soiled by 
the dust of the road and who might be thought 
to stand in need of rest and refreshment in 
order to pursue their journey to its close. 


20 THE HOLY ANGELS 

So too when they appeared to Lot as he sat 
at evening in the gate of the city {Gen. xix ), 
and pressed them to turn in to him and wash 
their feet and eat and abide with him till 
morning. Again, it was an angel in human 
shape who wrestled with Jacob all through 
the night, before he blessed him and changed 
his name to Israel. 

Of the angels in Jacob’s vision nothing is 
told as to what they looked like. Only the 
fact is recorded that he saw them ascending 
and descending a ladder that stretched from 
earth to heaven. {Ex. xiv, 19) Of the 
angel who went before the camp of the Is¬ 
raelites as they fled from Pharaoh, it is not 
said whether or not he was seen by the chosen 
people, though we are told that when he 
shifted his position to the rear, as the 
Egyptians advanced against them, the pillar 
of cloud, which served them as a guide, went 
back along with him. 

In some instances the sacred writer tells 


THE HOLY ANGELS 21 

us merely that an angel called from heaven; 
such was the case when Abraham was about 
to sacrifice his son Isaac; and Agar heard 
the angel call when her boy Ismael was 
parched with thirst and ready to die. In 
other instances we are informed of the effect 
of the visitation but no apparition is men¬ 
tioned,—as in the case of the angel of death 
who slew in one night all the first-born of the 
Egyptians or utterly destroyed the vast army 
of Sennacherib. 

The Prophet Daniel, on the other hand, in 
narrating the remarkable series of visions that 
were vouchsafed to him concerning the fu¬ 
ture of his own people and of the heathen na¬ 
tions that surrounded them, and with refer¬ 
ence to the coming of Christ, speaks with con¬ 
siderable detail of the terrifying appearance 
of the angel whom he beheld by the great 
river Tigris—probably Gabriel, who had ap¬ 
peared to him twice previously. 

“And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw: and 


22 THE HOLY ANGELS 

behold a man clothed in linen, and his loins 
were girded with the finest gold: And his 
body was like the chrysolite, and his face as 
the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as 
a burning lamp: and his arms, and all down¬ 
ward even to the feet, like in appearance to 
glittering brass: and the voice of his word like 
the voice of a multitude. And I Daniel alone 
saw the vision. . . . And I heard the voice 
of his words: and when I heard, I lay in con¬ 
sternation, upon my face, and my face was 
close to the ground. And behold a hand 
touched me, and lifted me up upon my knees, 
and upon the joints of my hands. And he 
said to me: Daniel, thou man of desires, un¬ 
derstand the words that I speak to thee, and 
stand upright . . . and I stood trembling.” 
(Dan. x , 5-11) 

Another truly marvelous event is recounted 
in the second book of Machabees, in which 
the actors must surely have been angels. 
When Heliodorus, by order of King Seleucus 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


23 


undertook to rob the treasury of the Temple 
of Jerusalem, “there appeared to them,” says 
the sacred writer, “a horse with a terrible 
rider upon him, adorned with a very rich 
covering: and he ran fiercely and struck He- 
liodorus with his forefeet, and he that sat 
upon him, seemed to have armour of gold. 
Moreover there appeared two other young 
men beautiful and strong, bright and glorious, 
and in comely apparel: who stood by him, 
on either side, and scourged him without 
ceasing with many stripes. And Heliodorus 
suddenly fell to the ground, and they took 
him up covered with great darkness, and hav¬ 
ing put him into a litter they carried him out.” 
(2 Mach. Hi, 25-27) 

Perhaps, however, the most pleasing of all 
the apparitions of angels recorded in Holy 
Writ, as it is certainly the one of greatest 
duration and of most familiar intercourse, is 
that of the Archangel Raphael to Tobias and 
his son, to whom he appeared as a beautiful 


24 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


young man, all ready for a journey. But of 
this in detail is a subsequent chapter. 


CHAPTER VI 

Angelic Apparitions— How the 
Angels Appeared 

NEW TESTAMENT 

O NLY the messages of the angels who 
foretold the birth of the Redeemer, 
and of his blessed Precursor, are reported 
to us by the evangelists, St. Luke and St. Mat¬ 
thew. We are not informed as to what they 
looked like, although we are told that the 
Angel Gabriel, who appeared to Zachary, 
stood at the right side of the altar of incense, 
and that the aged priest was startled and 
seized with fear on seeing him. Some have 
thought that the apparition of the same glori¬ 
ous spirit to our blessed Lady was purely in- 



THE HOLY ANGELS 


25 


tellectual, but the words of the evangelist— 
“being come in”—would be understood more 
naturally as implying a visible corporeal pres¬ 
ence. 

When Our Lord was at length actually born 
in Bethlehem of Judea, His birth was an¬ 
nounced to the shepherds by an angel who 
suddenly stood by them amid wondrous 
brightness and spoke to them with heavenly 
condescension, while presently a whole host 
of angelic spirits mingled their voices with 
his in the strains of the sweetest hymn that 
was ever heard by mortal ears. 

An angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in his 
sleep, to warn him to take the Child and His 
mother and flee into Egypt when Herod sought 
the life of the Child, and again in Egypt after 
the death of Herod, to bid him return into 
the land of Israel. Nothing, however, is 
said as to the form in which the angel showed 
himself. Nor are we supplied with any de¬ 
tails regarding the apparition of the angels 



26 THE HOLY ANGELS 

who came to minister to Our Lord after the 
series of temptations to which He was pleased 
to submit at the beginning of His public life, 
or of the privileged spirit whose role it was 
to comfort Our Lord in His agony in the 
Garden. 

On the other hand, the evangelist, St. Mat¬ 
thew, presents to us a striking picture of the 
angel who first announced to the holy women, 
Our Lord’s resurrection from the dead. 
“And behold, there was a great earthquake. 
For an angel of the Lord descended from 
heaven, and coming, rolled back the stone 
[from the entrance to the tomb], and sat upon 
it. And his countenance was as lightning, 
and his raiment as snow. And for fear of 
him, the guards were struck with terror, and 
became as dead men.” {Matt, xxviii, 2—4) 
But to the women who sought Jesus crucified, 
he was all condescension and sweetness, and 
bade them have no fear, but go and bear the 
good tidings to the disciples. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 27 

St. Mark speaks of a young man clad in 
white garments and sitting to the right, as the 
women entered the sepulchre; and he ad¬ 
dressed them graciously, bearing the joyous 
message of the resurrection of our divine 
Saviour. St. Luke tells of two men who stood 
by them in shining apparel, and reminded 
them of Our Lord’s own prediction that He 
was to rise again. And finally, St. John in 
narrating the first apparition of Our Lord 
himself after His resurrection, records how 
Mary Magdalen, as she stood weeping at the 
tomb, stooped down and looking in, “saw 
two angels in white, sitting, one at the head, 
and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus 

had been laid.” (John xx, 12) 

> 

In all these instances the angels appear in 
human form, but with a glory of vesture and 
of aspect which was quite in keeping with 
the splendid miracle of the resurrection, and 
which clearly revealed them as something 
more than mere human beings. 


28 


THE HOLY ANGELS 

THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 

In the Acts of the Apostles mention is sev¬ 
eral times made of apparitions of angels. 
First, there are the two, clad in white robes, 
who reproved the disciples when the latter, 
after our Lord’s ascension from the Mount of 
Olives, stood gazing up to heaven, instead of 
setting at once about the work which He 
had appointed for them to do. (Acts i , 
10 ) 

Later, an angel appears to Cornelius, the 
centurion, and bids him summon Peter to 
preach the gospel to his household. (Acts 
x) So an angel bids Philip hasten to instruct 
the eunuch of Candace, Queen of the Ethio¬ 
pians, as he is on his way homeward from 
Jerusalem. (Acts viii, 26) Again an angel 
appeared to Paul on his voyage to Rome, 
and in the midst of a prolonged and violent 
storm, promised him the safety of all who had 
sailed with him on the ship, though the ship 


29 


THE HOLY ANGELS 

itself was doomed to perish. (Acts xxvii) 
Lastly there is the still more wonderful 
apparition of the angel who awakened Peter 
as he lay asleep in prison between two guards, 
and, shedding about him a heavenly radiance, 
struck the shackles from Peter’s hands, bade 
him arise, and dress, and follow him forth 
into the city, and only left him when he was 
at length safe from all danger of pursuit. 
(Acts xii) 


THE APOCALYPSE 

It would take long to enumerate the many 
visions of angels recounted by St. John in his 
Apocalypse. At one time he sees thousands 
upon thousands standing round about the 
throne, or falling on their faces before it, 
adoring God and singing the praises of the 
Lamb. At another he beholds “four angels 
standing on the four corners of the earth, 
holding the four winds of the earth . . . and 
another angel ascending from the rising of 


30 THE HOLY ANGELS 

the sun, having the sign of the living God.” 
( Apoc . vii, 1-2) 

Again, St. John sees “seven angels stand¬ 
ing in the presence of God; and there v:ere 
given to them seven trumpets. And another 
angel came, and stood before the altar, hav¬ 
ing a golden censer; and there was given to 
him much incense, that he should offer up the 
prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, 
which is before the throne of God. And the 
smoke of the incense of the prayers of the 
saints ascended up before God from the hand 
of the angel.” {Apoc. viii, 2-4) 

More glorious still and at the same time 
awe-inspiring is the picture the apostle gives 
us of a “mighty angel” whom he saw “come 
down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and 
a rainbow was on his head, and his face was 
as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. 
And he had in his hand a little book open: 
and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his 
left upon the earth. . . . And the angel . . . 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


31 


lifted up his hand to heaven. And he swore 
by him that liveth for ever and ever, who 
created heaven, and the things which are 
therein; and the earth, and the things which 
are in it; and the sea, and the things which 
are therein: That time shall be no more.” 
( Apoc . x, 1-6) 

It is in the Apocalypse that we find the ac¬ 
count of the primeval conflict between the 
Prince of Darkness and the Angel of Light. 
“And there was a great battle in heaven, 
Michael and his angels fought with the 
dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels : 
and they prevailed not, neither was their place 
found any more in heaven.” ( Apoc . xii, 
7-8) 

The splendor and the majesty of the blessed 
spirits may be inferred from the impression 
produced by the sight of one of them upon 
the mind of the Beloved Disciple, favored 
though he had been by so many wondrous 
visions. “And I, John,” he tells us in the 


32 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


last chapter of his great prophecy, “who 
have heard and seen these things. And after 
I had heard and seen, I fell down to adore 
before the feet of the angel, who shewed me 
these things. And he said to me: See thou 
do it not: for I am thy fellow servant. . . . 
Adore God.” ( Apoc . xxii, 8-9) 

CHAPTER VII 
Angelic Attributes 

A S spiritual beings, the angels are all 
endowed with understanding and free 
will. As pure spirits, there can be no ques¬ 
tion of their being subject to infirmities or to 
death. They are by nature immortal, nor 
have they, like the fabled consort of Aurora, 
reason to lament the fact. For with them 
there is no such thing as the decrepitude of 
age; they retain at all times an unvarying, 
ever vigorous youth. And so they are rep- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 33 

resented not only in works of human art, but 
also in the authoritative pictures drawn for 
us by the hand of God. 

Their beauty we can but very imperfectly 
conceive. It is of the spiritual order, and 
does not fall within the range of the senses 
or imagination. We have, it is true, an idea 
of spiritual beauty, such as that of virtue, but 
it does not help us materially, when there is 
a question of painting for ourselves in their 
own colors such elusive objects as spiritual 
substances. 

We understand that the angels, being of a 
higher order than ourselves and more closely 
fashioned after the pattern of all beauty and 
perfection, which is God, must necessarily 
be of a beauty far surpassing that of our hu¬ 
man kind. And so while we know that the 
angels are not men like us, we attribute to 
them in our representations of them all those 
elements which go to make up the most perfect 


34 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


human form—refinement of features, grace 
of outline, health and vigor of limb, together 
with perpetual youth. We associate with 
them the notion of light and brightness, and 
accredit them with other qualities which re¬ 
move them as far as may be from the gross¬ 
ness and sluggishness of matter. We assign 
to them the properties of subtlety and won¬ 
drous agility, so that no material substance 
can present an obstacle to them, and they 
can transport themselves to the ends of 
the world with more than the rapidity of 
light. 

What an awakening it will be for us when, 
as the eyes of our body close in death, the eyes 
of our soul open for the first time to see our 
guardian angel as he is, without the aid of 
images drawn from these lower things, and to 
behold with him a countless array of glori¬ 
ous spirits, of whom now we cannot so much 
as speak save in faltering accents! 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


35 


CHAPTER VIII 
The Angelic Mind 

are often spoken of as In- 



as though the word ex¬ 


pressed the whole of what they are, and they 
were nothing else but minds. Of course the 
implication would not be exact. The angels 
are highly intelligent beings, but intelli¬ 
gence is not their substance; it is only one 
of their faculties. Nevertheless, as com¬ 
pared with us and with our grosser methods of 
knowing, the angelic mind stands out so won¬ 
derfully perfect, so agile, so free in its ac¬ 
tion, so disengaged from the encumbrances of 
matter, so independent, so quickly hurrying 
on from principles to their remotest deduc¬ 
tions—or rather, beholding the deductions in 
the principles from which they flow and tak- 


36 THE HOLY ANGELS 

ing in at a glance where we can barely after 
much labor arrive at some uncertain conclu¬ 
sions—that the whole force of an angel’s 
nature seems to us to be concentrated in its 
intellectual power. 

We cannot pay a higher tribute to human 
intelligence than to speak of it as angelic. 
To say that a philosopher or divine has the 
mind of an angel is to exhaust the vocabulary 
of praise, and to call St. Thomas Aquinas 
“the angelic Doctor” is not merely to ascribe 
to him a purity of life whereby he closely 
resembled the blessed spirits, but chiefly to 
proclaim him a man of exceptional intellect, 
and possessing a marvelous grasp of divine 
things. 

Those bright intelligences, the holy angels, 
see God face to face, and that “intuitive 
vision,” as it is called, is the source of all 
their blessedness. The Divine Essence is a 
wondrous mirror in which, while they gaze 
enraptured on the infinite and soul-enthrall- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 37 

ing beauties of the Godhead, they see re¬ 
flected at the same time the whole world of 
creatures, not vaguely, but as they are, and 
as it pleases God to manifest them. 

That is the clearest and the most perfect 
knowledge which the angels have— scientia 
matutina , morning knowledge , divines have 
named it—in contrast with scientia vespertina, 
or evening knowledge , the less perfect knowl¬ 
edge which the angels have through the play 
of their natural faculties—the latter being in 
comparison with the former, a mere twilight 
as compared with the effulgence of the sun at 
noonday. 

Our minds must first be equipped with an 
image of the object before they can perceive 
it—the image itself not being the object, but 
the instrument of knowledge. So too with the 
angelic mind, though with this difference, that 
while the object determines the image in the 
case of the human faculty, in the angelic in¬ 
tellect, the image is present from the outset, 






38 THE HOLY ANGELS 

but inactive until it is determined in some 
suitable way by the all-piercing divine ac¬ 
tivity. For while the human mind is closely 
allied with the senses and on that account 
may receive its determination indirectly from 
material objects (though even here the proc¬ 
ess is not without mystery), in the case of 
the angels, whose being is purely spiritual, 
such determination is quite inconceiv¬ 
able. 

The images then by which the angelic mind 
is fully equipped for the act of perception, 
are present in the faculty as its modifications 
from the beginning, but are not necessarily 
operative. Their concurrence in the act of 
knowing is dependent partly on the free will 
of the angels, partly on circumstances affect¬ 
ing the object. There is no good reason for 
thinking that the angels have forever present 
to their minds everything that falls within the 
range of their knowledge, nor do they rep- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 39 

resent to themselves an object as existent, un¬ 
til it actually exists. 

There is another great difference between 
the images which complete the intellectual 
faculty of the angels and dispose it for the act 
of natural knowledge, and those whereby the 
human mind is rendered similarly apt. The 
angels approach much nearer than we to the 
simplicity and spirituality of the divine be¬ 
ing, and hence as God knows all things and 
comprehends all things through His own es¬ 
sence, as through a perfect, all-embracing 
mirror, so the angelic mind is endowed with 
images —species the schoolmen call them—of 
far greater range than ours, and ever broader 
in their scope and more universal, as angel 
rises above angel in glory, and draws nearer 
and nearer to the source of all being, and the 
fountain-head from which all knowledge 
flows. The universal ideas of the blessed 
spirits are not, like ours, mere shadowy out- 



40 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


lines of their objects, more and more bereft 
of content, as they become more and more 
universal, but on the contrary the more uni¬ 
versal ideas are richer in content, and belong 
in consequence to the loftier intelligences. 


Note. —Universal ideas in the strict sense are those which 
represent indifferently any one of a multitude of individuals. 
Through the abstractive power of the mind, the object rep¬ 
resented has been stripped of its individuating characteris¬ 
tics, and thus the mental image may serve equally well as a 
representation of any similar object. 

But the universal ideas of the angels are of a totally dif¬ 
ferent kind. They a*e universal not through lack, but 
through abundance of content. Such a universal idea 
would be, for instance, the concept of this or that earthly 
kingdom, of which some particular angel might be the ap¬ 
pointed guardian. Not only would the angel have full 
knowledge of the kingdom as a whole, but every detail 
affecting its physical characteristics as well as its people 
would be clearly manifest to him. 

The nearer the angels approach the unspeakable perfec¬ 
tion of their Maker, whose divine essence is like a bound¬ 
less mirror reflecting at once all existing as well as all 
possible being, the more they recede from a multiplicity 
of ideas, and the more they resemble Him in the unity and 
simplicity of their knowledge. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


41 


CHAPTER IX 
The Angelic Will 

I N a spiritual nature spiritual perception 
is followed by a corresponding inclina¬ 
tion of attraction or aversion which we call 
will, though the name is more usually applied 
to the faculty than to the act. Its object is 
that which is perceived as good, i. e., as be¬ 
fitting the subject or in some way or other 
perfecting it. If the object is apprehended 
only in that general way, the faculty cannot 
be indifferent: it can only seek, it cannot turn 
away from its object. So too, were the ob¬ 
ject apprehended as under every aspect good, 
and the fulness of good, the will could only 
turn toward it and covet it with all the eager¬ 
ness and all the energy of its nature. But 
where the object is presented to the will by 
the intellect as partly good and partly evil, 


\ 


42 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


or at least defective, or where the highest 
good itself is not perceived in all its loveli¬ 
ness and infinite attractiveness, the will is free 
either to embrace or to reject the object— 
even to abstain from any activity respecting 
it. 

That the angels were endowed with freedom 
of will at their creation follows from the 
spirituality of their nature, and from the fact 
too that we are free. For although the power 
to choose moral evil is a defect, yet to be 
master of one’s acts is a perfection, and 
the angelic nature is more perfect than 
ours. 

But the angelic will labors under the defect 
of every finite will. It is of its own nature 
capable of sin, and a great multitude of the 
angels did actually sin, and on that account 
were cast forever into the abyss of hell. 

Some have thought that the angels having 
once made their choice, must remain im- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 43 

movably fixed in it, and in this way they ex¬ 
plain how it was impossible for the demons 
to repent of their sin and so obtain forgive¬ 
ness. These angels were free before their 
choice, they say, but not after it. 

It may, of course, be conceded that with 
their extraordinary clearness of perception 
the angels lack an element which is largely 
responsible for much fickleness on our part. 
Nevertheless, it does not appear why a clear¬ 
ness of vision which left them free anteced¬ 
ently to the act of choice, should prove an 
obstacle to their freedom after it. 

Besides, there is a pretty general consent 
among the Fathers that the reason why the 
angels, having once chosen, continued ever 
after unalterably fixed in their choice, was 
not their nature but, in the case of the rep¬ 
robate angels, God’s justice and in the case 
of the blessed spirits, the grace of God or the 
gift of the Holy Spirit. 


44 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


CHAPTER X 

The Trial of the Angels 

T HE angels being by nature free and 
masters of their acts, and hence capable 
of meriting the state of everlasting blessed¬ 
ness, it did not please God to admit them to 
His kingdom except as the price and recom¬ 
pense of their fidelity in His service. They 
were elevated to the supernatural state at the 
moment of their creation, being adorned with 
sanctifying grace and destined to see God 
face to face in heaven, but they must first 
prove themselves worthy, by standing the test 
to which their loyalty was subjected. They 
were en route for heaven; they had not as yet 
reached their glorious destination: they were 
viatores, not comprehensores. 

What the test was which they were obliged 
to undergo has not been made known to us. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 45 

They walked by faith during the period of 
their probation, and not by sight or intuition. 
By faith they knew God, and the Blessed 
Trinity, and Him who was to be the Head of 
all creation, that is, Christ; but whether the 
mystery of the Incarnation was distinctly re¬ 
vealed to them we cannot say. And yet it 
does seem likely that for the rebel angels, 
their sin, as many theologians hold, was a 
refusal to bow down in adoration before the 
human nature of the Son of God. 

We are safe at least in saying that it was 
a sin of pride. They were enamoured of 
their own surpassing loveliness, their marvel¬ 
ous strength, the amazing breadth and depth 
of their mental vision and their other splen¬ 
did attributes, and they did not stop to refer 
them all to the liberality and munificence of 
their Creator, but foolishly gloried in them, 
as though they were in the fullest sense their 
own; and thus, by these idle thoughts and this 
empty self-complacency, they lost the solid 


46 THE HOLY ANGELS 

fruit of being forever established in the love 
and friendship of their Maker. 

The sight of God’s own Son, revealed to 
them from afar as a tender Babe, swathed in 
poverty and lowliness, and fed at the breast 
by an earthly Mother, was a revolting spec¬ 
tacle to these proud spirits, and when the 
command was intimated to them: “Let all 
the angels of God adore him” ( Heb . i, 6), 
they held back in sullen contumacy, and be¬ 
ing hurled from heaven for their sin, sank 
forever into the abyss of hell. 

How long they had basked in the light of 
God’s love and in the magnificence of their 
own glorious gifts—how long, if measured in 
units of our time—it is useless to speculate. 
What may be said with sufficient assurance is 
that their reprobation followed upon their 
first deliberate act, just as the good angels 
reaped in the ecstatic joy of the beatific vision 
the immediate recompense of their first full 



THE HOLY ANGELS 47 

and deliberate consecration of themselves to 
the worship of their Maker. 

CHAPTER XI 
The Speech of Angels 

men, and of angels, and have not charity, I 
am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling 
cymbal.” (/ Cor. xiii, 1) The angels then, 
no less than men, have their tongues, their 
speech, whereby they communicate to one an¬ 
other their thoughts and aims. And how else 
indeed could that mighty society of which 
they are the members, be held together in the 
perfect harmony which belongs to all things 
heavenly, without this necessary social bond? 

Besides, we are expressly told in Holy Writ 
that the seraphim whom Isaias beheld stand¬ 
ing in the presence of the Lord cried one 


S T. PAUL, writing to the Corinthians, 
says, “If I speak with the tongues of 


48 THE HOLY ANGELS 

to another: “'Holy, holy, holy, the Lord God 
of hosts, all the earth is full of his glory.” 
(Is. vi, 3) And St. John in the book of the 
Apocalypse tells us how the angel whom he 
saw ascending from the rising of the sun, 
called with a loud voice to the four angels 
who stood on the four corners of the earth, 
bidding them delay for a while the vengeance 
which they were commissioned to wreak. 

If men converse freely with one another 
and if they find in that intercourse with their 
fellows so keen and subtle a pleasure, a 
source of such habitual and manifold enjoy¬ 
ment, it surely is inconceivable that the 
blessed spirits should be condemned by na¬ 
ture to a state of isolation, the more repug¬ 
nant because of the sublime content of their 
minds and the burning mutual love with 
which they are enkindled. 

But when we come to explain the manner 
of their speech, we find ourselves at a loss. 
They are pure spirits, and their language 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


49 


must be wholly spiritual. They may, when 
they appear to men, make use of human 
speech. They may sing in melodious accents 
when they announce to simple shepherds the 
birth of the Saviour of mankind. They may 
chant in strains of more than earthly music 
at the tomb of the Virgin Mother. They may 
translate their thoughts into human language 
when they would convey them to those who 
hear with ears of flesh, and who express their 
thoughts by the use of throat, tongue, lips 
and airy voice. 

But when angels speak one to another, 
when they converse among themselves of the 
majesty of the Creator and of the splendor of 
the works of His hands, or intimate His will 
to such as are subject to them in the scheme of 
the celestial hierarchy, what is the character 
of their speech? What is the method of com¬ 
munication between them? 

It ought to be such as to allow of their com¬ 
municating with each other at great distances. 


50 THE HOLY ANGELS 

For men also do this, to some extent with the 
unaided voice, and to a far greater degree 
with the aid of mechanical appliances. 

An angel, too, when speaking, should be 
able to address himself at choice to one or to 
several. He should be able to confide a 
secret to this one or that, or to speak openly 
so that all who will may hear. He should be 
able also to know who speaks to him, and 
with just what earnestness or energy he would 
convey his thoughts and sentiments. 

In fine, we must concede that an angel’s 
speech is such as to admit of the possibility 
of lying—not, of course, in angels confirmed 
in grace, but considering only their natural 
faculty—for the devil is the “father of lies.” 

To safeguard these requirements, some the¬ 
ologians think it explanation enough to say 
that the angel who speaks must freely direct 
his thoughts to this or that angel, or, if he 
choose, to a number of angels, and that by 
the very fact—not of course without the or- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


51 


dinary divine concurrence—the correspond¬ 
ing concepts are awakened in the minds of 
those whom he is addressing. 

Others hold that an angel who would speak 
to another must act upon the latter according 
to the spiritual nature of both, and must pro¬ 
duce in his intellect an image of himself—to 
indicate the speaker—and at the same time 
an image corresponding to the thought to be 
communicated. 

The question is a difficult one and for a 
full and satisfactory solution, we must be 
content to wait until the happy hour when we 
ourselves shall be introduced into the glori¬ 
ous company of the blessed spirits, and shall 
know from experience how wondrous God is 
in that supreme order of beings, which, if 
we except the Sacred Humanity of Christ, 
and our Blessed Lady, is the crowning work 
of His creative hand. 



52 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


CHAPTER XII 

Presence in Space—Activity 

i 

I T is sometimes said familiarly that a thou¬ 
sand angels might dance on the point of 
a needle. That they could assemble there 
would seem to be a corollary from the simplic¬ 
ity of their nature which excludes extension. 
That they could dance there is another mat¬ 
ter, and may be passed over as a bit of pleas¬ 
antry. 

But angels do not fill space as bodies do. 
A body cannot naturally exist without occupy¬ 
ing space, and is commensurate to the space 
thus occupied, equal parts of the body filling 
equal parts of space, and each part of the 
space corresponding to a definite part of the 
body. 


TIIE HOLY ANGELS 53 

But angels have no parts. Hence if they 
occupy a given portion of space, they must 
be whole and entire throughout its extent, 
and in every assignable part of it, even as 
the human soul, which is also simple, is whole 
and entire in the whole body, and in every 
portion of it. 

We can hardly conceive of a thing exist¬ 
ing, and yet not being anywhere. Neverthe¬ 
less, there have been philosophers and divines 
—among them the prince of theologians, St. 
Thomas Aquinas—who have held that, un¬ 
der certain conditions, there is no impropri¬ 
ety in saying that an angel would be nowhere, 
that is, not in any place. This is in keep¬ 
ing with their contention that it is the ac¬ 
tivity of an angel within a given place which 
alone warrants us in saying that he is in that 
place, although he may be present there 
in his substance independently of such 
action. 


54 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


II 

It is not to be supposed that an angel’s 
sphere of activity is of indefinite extent. 
The angels are creatures, and as such are 
limited in their being and operation. Their 
range of action as well as the energy with 
which they are capable of acting will vary 
with the perfection of their nature. The 
higher angels enjoy a broader, the lower a 
more restricted sphere of operation, while 
even the least among them are endowed with 
a force and energy far beyond anything of 
which the material world offers us an exam¬ 
ple. 

Whether the faculty whereby angels act in 
the outer world is distinct from their will is 
disputed by theologians, hut it may be as¬ 
sumed that it is not, there being nothing to 
gain from asserting the contrary. How an¬ 
gels act on foreign substances, whether spir¬ 
itual or material, is decidedly not clear. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


55 


That they do act, however, we know from 
the various ministries in which they have been 
employed according to the testimony of Holy 
Writ, as when the angel stirred the water 
in the pool at Bethsaida, or smote the chains 
of Peter as he lay asleep in prison, and 
caused them to fall from his limbs. We 
know it also from analogy with the human 
soul, which moves the body to which it is 
united, and through it, acts upon others ex¬ 
terior to it. To be sure, the analogy is not 
perfect, but on the other hand, the angels, as 
a part of the universe, must exert an influence 
upon the world at large and as its noblest 
portion, cannot lack a power which belongs 
to inferior beings. 

Yet all that the angels can effect in the 
material world is reducible to motion. They 
can transfer this or that physical agent, with 
incredible celerity, from place to place, and 
knowing thoroughly the varied forces of na¬ 
ture, and their mutual action and reaction 


56 THE HOLY ANGELS 

upon one another, they are able to apply them 
with consummate skill for the bringing about 
of marvelous results. 

Thus, if it fell within the order of divine 
Providence to permit it, they might promptly 
cure the most obstinate diseases by the appli¬ 
cation of the proper specifics, which, if neces¬ 
sary, they might bring in a moment from the 
ends of the earth. But for whatever effects 
they produce in the physical order they are 
entirely dependent on physical forces. They 
cannot dispense with them, and so neither 
can they accomplish any result instantane¬ 
ously. The forces of nature act only in time, 
and their action is measured by time. An¬ 
gels cannot of themselves work miracles, 
whatever they may do as instruments of the 
Divine Omnipotence. 

Nor can they act directly upon the human 
soul, but only through the body. They can¬ 
not, as it would seem, suggest this or that 
thought to the mind, impart this or that im- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


57 


pulse to the will, except by acting upon the 
imagination, and even this they can do only 
through the body or the outer senses. 

Note. —So say St. Thomas, p. 1, q. iii, a. 2; Suarez, vol. 2, 
bk. 6, ch. 16, Nos. 7, 8, ff.; Mazzella, De Deo Creante, 
Disp. de Angelis, p. 309; and our theologians generally. 


CHAPTER XIII 


The Flight of Angels 



HE angels have each a limited sphere 


of action. They cannot accomplish 
anything beyond it. They cannot act di¬ 
rectly at a distance, but to produce an effect 
where they are not actually present, they 
must transfer themselves from place to place. 
This they do with incredible speed. 

We do not share the opinion of those who 
hold that angels pass from one place to an¬ 
other instantaneously, that is to say, without 
passing through the intermediate space. 
That would be a sort of replication, which is 


58 THE HOLY ANGELS 

perhaps the more common and more likely 
way of explaining how Our Lord’s blessed 
body in heaven becomes present on the altar 
through the words of consecration, but seems 
an unlikely, as it is an unnecessary, explana¬ 
tion of what must be an ordinary occurrence 
in the life of an angel. 

The angels do indeed enjoy extraordinary 
agility. They can traverse bewildering dis¬ 
tances with amazing rapidity. But, so can 
some material things, as the light, which 
travels at the rate of approximately 200,000 
miles a second, the equivalent of eight times 
the circumference of the earth. And yet, 
as it speeds towards us from the distant stars, 
the light marks successively every portion of 
the endless pathway it must cover. 

Hence, too, the angels, while they, as spir¬ 
itual substances in no wise hampered by the 
limitations of matter, fly through the bound¬ 
less realms of space with a speed far ex¬ 
ceeding that of light, may with reason be 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


59 


thought to arrive at the term of their motion 


only after having passed in succession 


through every inch of the intervening space. 

CHAPTER XIV 
The Angels and Time 

one of the most elusive notions. 



understand it well enough for 


practical purposes, but when there is question 
of clearly defining its nature, the lay mind, 
if not that of the philosopher, finds the task 
a baffling one. 

All that is actual in time is the present mo¬ 
ment, which we express by the word now, and 
which almost ere we have spoken it, has 
ceased to be. It might be compared with an 
imaginary plane dividing, at any given point 
in the onward flow of a stream, the waters 
that have sped by from those which have yet 
to pass. For in the march of time the pres- 


60 THE HOLY ANGELS 

ent is but the limit which separates the past 
from the future. 

Time is the duration of things whose whole 
being is in a state of succession. It cannot 
properly be predicated of what in its nature 
is permanent. And here perhaps we may 
look for at least a partial explanation of cer¬ 
tain words which occur in that striking scene 
in the Apocalypse, already quoted. 

“And the angel, whom I saw standing upon 
the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his 
hand to heaven. And he swore by him that 
liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, 
and the things which are therein; and the 
earth, and the things which are in it; and the 
sea, and the things which are therein: That 
time shall be no longer .” ( Apoc . x, 5—6 ) 

After the Judgment Day, the status of men, 
no less than that of the angels, will be fixed 
forever. Their lot will then be one of un¬ 
interrupted, unending bliss, or of ceaseless 


THE HOLY ANGELS 61 

misery. For them, consequently, time will 
have given place to eternity. 

Now the whole being of the angels is 
changeless and permanent, and their highest 
and noblest operations, which have to do with 
the beatific vision, are equally so. They are 
in no way subject to the variations of the 
things of time. 

Nevertheless the angels co-exist with our 
time, and hence their duration may be meas¬ 
ured by it, and we may speak of them as hav¬ 
ing existed for, say, six thousand years or 
more; whereas, were there no heavenly bod¬ 
ies by whose regular movements the years are 
computed, it would be impossible for us to 
assign any measure to their existence. 

There is indeed a sense in which time may 
be predicated of the angels independently of 
all exterior terms of comparison. The ac¬ 
cidental operations of the angelic mind and 
will, which have created things for their ob- 


62 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


ject, admit of succession,—in fact, succeed 
each other, much as ours do. And yet there 
is this important difference, that while in us 
there is a gradual transition from the imper¬ 
fect to the perfect, in the angels the transition 
is instantaneous from one perfect act to an¬ 
other. Succession involves time and hence, 
with reference to these secondary acts, the 
angels are affected by time. But it is not 
time like ours—an onward, ceaseless, equable 
flow; rather may it be compared with the 
abrupt transition from book to book on the 
shelves of a library. It is tempus discretion, 

not continuum —discrete, not continuous, 
time. 


CHAPTER XV 

The Occupations of the Angels 



OD is a mighty Monarch, and like other 


I ~w monarchs He has His court. His su¬ 
preme dignity requires that it should far sur¬ 
pass all earthly courts in splendor and mag- 



THE HOLY ANGELS 63 

nificence. Hence the multitude of those 
whose privilege it is to stand before Him is 
exceedingly vast, and the glory of their gifts 
and endowments is such as to fit them to be 
ministers and courtiers of the King of kings. 

“Thousands of thousands ministered to 
him,” says the Prophet Daniel, “and ten thou¬ 
sand times a hundred thousand stood before 
him.” {Dan. vii, 10) The latter figure is 
the equivalent of a thousand millions, but the 
purpose of the sacred writer in using such 
language is doubtless to emphasize the vast¬ 
ness of the throngs of the blessed spirits, 
rather than to give their exact number. 

The angels are ever ready to fly to the 
ends of the world to execute God’s orders. 
They stand before Him, eager to catch the 
sound of His voice, and at the least expres¬ 
sion of His will, they hasten to fulfil it. Nor 
are they deterred, if what He wills is great 
and arduous; for they are “mighty in 
strength,” and it is a joy for them to use 


64 THE HOLY ANGELS 

their gifts in the service of the Lord of hosts. 
“Bless the Lord, all ye his angels: you that 
are mighty in strength, and execute his word, 
hearkening to the voice of his behests. Bless 
the Lord, all ye his hosts: you ministers of 
his that do his will.” ( Ps . cii, 20—21 ) 

Of one chief employment of the holy an¬ 
gels— i. e., as guardians to our frail human 
race—we shall speak at length later on. The 
fact to which we would call special attention 
here is, that this occupation in no way inter¬ 
feres with their other all important and most 
absorbing business—the blissful contempla¬ 
tion of the Divine Essence. For our Lord 
himself expressly states that “their angels in 
heaven [those of the children of whom He is 
speaking] ever see the face of my Father who 
is in heaven.” (Matt, xviii, 10) 

It is the sight of God as He is, the contem¬ 
plation of the Divine Essence unveiled, the 
beatific vision , as it is called, which has made 
the angels blessed hitherto, and will continue 





THE HOLY ANGELS 65 

to be to them the one source of supreme and 
perfect bliss for all eternity. No fear that 
they will ever weary of it. We only weary 
of what but imperfectly satisfies our cravings. 
We can never find true contentment here; not 
only because along with the little that is grati¬ 
fying to us, there are so many ills to plague 
and torture us, and because the little good 
that we enjoy must be relinquished at death; 
but also because no one earthly object, and 
no accumulation of earthly good things, fully 
meets the yearnings of the human heart. 
Hence that ceaseless restlessness with which 
we fly from one vanity to another in the fruit¬ 
less search after happiness. 

There is only one object whose possession 
stills every craving, because it fills to it ut¬ 
most capacity the whole mind and being of 
the creature, fulfilling all its desires, and 
setting all its longings at rest. Only the vi¬ 
sion of God, the infinite good, can thus bring 
it peace. No wonder if amid such blissful re- 


66 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


pose the ages glide by unnoticed, and “a thou¬ 
sand years are as a day that has passed.” 

Whatever else the angels may be occupied 
in doing, they never lose sight of God. They 
bask forever in the eternal sunshine of His 
presence. They behold Him face to face in 
all His glory, they know Him even as they 
are known by Him, and seeing “are trans¬ 
formed into the same image from glory to 
glory.” 

And they also love God, and their love is 
a consuming flame. They sing unceasingly 
the song of love. Their will is ever one with 
God’s will, and they are at all times full of 
melody in His praise. 


ORDERS OF THE ANGELIC HIERARCHY 









CHAPTER XVI 
The Angelic Hierarchy 


O RDER is heaven’s first law. The 
countless multitudes of the angels are 
not a disorderly mob, but a thoroughly organ¬ 
ized society. The battalions of the blessed 
spirits are a well-marshalled host. There are 
degrees of glory, and differences of rank. 
All are not equal, save in this—that all alike 
are children of God, members of the great 
family of God, and of the mystical body of 
Christ. 

Just as in the natural body various func¬ 
tions are discharged by various parts di¬ 
versely located and of dissimilar structure, 
so in that body which is Christ’s, the angels 
have each their own separate place, with their 
own particular function to fulfil; and while 



70 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


all are truly great, being all sons of the most 
High God, and princes of His heavenly king¬ 
dom, not all are equally high, not all are 
equally honored, but one differs from an¬ 
other, both in the gifts of nature and in those 
of grace, as star differs from star in glory. 

About the constitution of this society which 
comprises all the legions of the holy angels 
we know only what we gather from certain 
passing indications in Holy Writ, echoed to 
be sure, by the teaching of the Faihers. 
Thus there is mention in Scripture of various 
classes of angels, and with evident opposition, 
as when St. Paul says “neither death, nor 
life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor 
powers, nor things present, nor things to 
come.” (Rom. viii, 38) Whence we infer 
the existence of distinct orders of blessed 
spirits, and by the aid of other passages, oc¬ 
curring chiefly in the epistles of the same 
Apostle, we are able to complete the enumera¬ 
tion of them. In the Epistle to the Colos- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


71 


sians we read: “For in him [that is, in 
Christ] were all things created in heaven and 
on earth, visible and invisible, whether 
thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or 
powers: all things were created by him and 
in him.” (Col. i, 16) 

Again, the Apostle writes: “Raising him 
(Christ) up from the dead, and setting him 
on his right hand in the heavenly places, 
above all principality, and power, and virtue, 
and dominion, and every name that is named, 
not only in this world, but also in that which 
is to come.” (Eph. i, 20-21 ) 

The word archangels, too, is found both in 
St. Paul and in St. Jude, and implies a cer¬ 
tain superiority and hence distinction. 
Lastly, we meet with the name seraphim in 
Isaias vi, while cherubim is of frequent oc¬ 
currence, being found first at the end of the 
third chapter of Genesis, and then often in 
the other historical books, in the Psalms, and 
in the prophet Ezechiel. 


72 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


Hence the mere division of the angels into 
various orders or classes, without definition 
as to number, interdependence and the like, 
is a teaching of our faith, being clearly con¬ 
tained in Holy Scripture. It is also a doc¬ 
trine commonly laid down by theologians, 
following in the footsteps of St. Denis (or 
Dionysius) the Areopagite (or whoever may 
be the author of that ancient and famous work 
on the Celestial Hierarchy ), that the holy an¬ 
gels are divided into three sacred realms, 
called hierarchies, according to their prox¬ 
imity to God and the fulness of the light flow¬ 
ing in upon their minds from that never-fail¬ 
ing, infinite source. This is now the com¬ 
monly received opinion in the Church. 

But there is also a further division of the 
hierarchies into choirs. To the choirs belong 
the names met with in the writings of St. 
Paul and in other passages of Holy Scripture, 
as just enumerated. They are nine in all, 
and thus we have three choirs for each hi- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


73 


erarchy, a perfectly natural distribution, as 
in every realm we meet the highest, the low¬ 
est, and the middle class. 

As a matter of fact, theologians (and the 
common voice of the Church along with 
them) assign to each of the angelic hier¬ 
archies, three sacred choirs. The method of 
distributing these throughout the hierarchies 
is not however quite uniform, but the usual 
division is that of St. Denis (Dionysius) or 
his namesake, the Pseudo-Areopagite, from 
whom St. Gregory scarcely differs. Accord¬ 
ing to the former, the first and noblest hier¬ 
archy embraces in descending scale, the ser¬ 
aphim, cherubim, and thrones. The second 
or intermediate hierarchy is made up in like 
order of the dominations, virtues, and 
powers. The third or lowest hierarchy com¬ 
prises the principalities, archangels, and an¬ 
gels. 

We must not think, however, that the use 
of these names is so fixed in Holy Scripture, 


74 THE HOLY ANGELS 

that one is not employed at times instead of 
another, that is, in a somewhat looser and 
broader sense. This is particularly true of 
the generic name, angel, which is used of all 
the blessed spirits indifferently, and not 
merely of the lowest choir, to which it is 
specially appropriated. Thus we read in St. 
Paul, (Heb. i) alluding to Psalm xcvi, “And 
let all the angels of God adore him”; and 
immediately after, “Who maketh his angels 
spirits”; in both of which passages there is 
question evidently of the whole heavenly 
army. Again, Gabriel is called the Angel 
Gabriel, though he is thought, not without 
reason, to have been one of the highest of all 
the blessed spirits. So Lucifer is apostro¬ 
phized by the Prophet Ezechiel, “Thou a 
cherub,” and yet he is commonly supposed 
to have belonged to the choir of seraphim and 
to have been perhaps the foremost among 
them. Lastly, Michael is called by St. Jude, 
the Archangel Michael, though elsewhere he 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


75 


is spoken of as one ol the chief princes, and 
is regarded by many as having been also of 
the order of seraphim. 


CHAPTER XVII 

Are All The Angels of One Species? 

T HIS question might seem to have been 
answered by what has been said in the 
preceding chapter. Yet the division of the 
blessed spirits into angels, archangels and 
the other classes there enumerated, does not 
of itself imply diversity of species. For the 
widest divergences may exist within the 
limits of the same specific nature, and may 
serve to differentiate mere varieties or in¬ 
dividuals. 

Thus all men are specifically alike, and 
yet what marked differences do we not ob¬ 
serve between the various races of men? 
What a contrast there is between the white 


76 THE HOLY ANGELS 

man and the black, between the cultured 
peoples of Europe and the untutored savage 
of the African or South American jungles? 
If a profound dissimilarity, not merely in 
outward features but even in mental and 
moral characteristics, does not prevent the 
various divisions of mankind from falling 
under one and the same species, may it not 
well be that, in the case of the angels too, 
there is no essential difference between the 
various orders of blessed spirits, and what¬ 
ever variety exists is purely accidental, being 
due to superadded gifts or endowments, to 
place, office, rank, and the like? 

At all events, the question as to whether or 
not there are different species of angels is 
not one that may be settled out of hand. In 
the first place, it is no easy matter to define 
just what makes a difference of species, and 
a test that might be satisfactorily applied in 
the case of material things, would be useless 
in that of spiritual beings. Then, too, we 


THE HOLY ANGELS 77 

have here no unanimity of opinion on the 
part of Catholic divines, but on the contrary, 
we find ourselves confronted with a great 
divergency of views. 

For there is first the extreme position taken 
by the Thomistic school, which, as a whole, 
maintains that each angel constitutes a species 
in himself; in other words, no two angels be¬ 
long to the same species. We shall not stop 
to discuss the arguments of the Thomists, 
which, to the lay mind certainly, would 
hardly appear convincing. We shall only 
observe that the weight of opinion among the 
Fathers of the Church appears to be de¬ 
cidedly against them. 

And indeed, the splendor of the heavenly 
court would seem to require that in every 
grade of those who minister before the Most 
High, there should be a multitude of equal 
rank. This would also give abundant scope 
to that propensity of the rational creature to 
regard as naturally his friends, those in 


78 THE HOLY ANGELS 

whom he beholds the exact reflection of his 
own qualities and gifts. For although divine 
love binds all the blessed spirits together in 
ties of the closest union, yet the supernatural 
order does not destroy the natural, nor does 
^extinguish those affinities which have their 
foundation in nature, even as it came from the 
Creator’s hand. 

The Scotists hold the opposite view to that 
of the Thomists, maintaining that the angels 
are all of one species, and that whatever dif¬ 
ferences exist between them are m nowise 
essential. There are classes of angels only 
as there are classes of saints, and as there 
are various divisions of an army—the latter 
comparison being all the more apt because 
in Holy Writ the term, host, or army, is often 
applied to the angelic throngs. 

Many of the Fathers are quoted as adher¬ 
ing to this view, but others favor neither ex¬ 
treme. They prefer to think that among the 
angels there are different species, each of 



THE HOLY ANGELS 79 

which comprises vast multitudes of individ¬ 
uals. And this is the opinion commonly 
adopted by the theologians of the Society of 
Jesus, and particularly by the learned Father 
Suarez. 

According to this opinion, one might hold 
that there are three species corresponding to 
the number of hierarchies, or nine, corre¬ 
sponding to that of the choirs. But Suarez 
inclines to the view that the number is incom¬ 
parably greater, and that the nine choirs are 
but so many subaltern species, each compris¬ 
ing a multitude of subdivisions, and each of 
these a countless throng of individuals, dif¬ 
fering only by their personal characteristics. 

The illustrious doctor bases this opinion 
on the endless variety of species of material 
things—of minerals, of plants, of animals— 
which contributes so wonderfully to the 
beauty of the universe and the glory of the 
Creator. For surely an equal, or still greater 
variety of intellectual beings would enhance 



80 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


still more the glory of God, and the splendor 
of the world which is the work of His hands. 

This supposes, to be sure, that such a multi¬ 
plication of angelic species is possible. 
Suarez holds that it is, and that the arguments 
advanced to prove it impossible, which he ex¬ 
amines, are in reality inconclusive. 


CHAPTER XVIII 
The Nine Choirs 

I T is not precisely an article of faith that 
there are just nine choirs of angels, no 
more, no less, and yet in the face of the great 
unanimity of the Fathers on this point, it 
would be rash to think otherwise. 

As for the arrangement of the choirs in the 
different hierarchies, there is indeed a certain 
discrepancy, but the order in which they have 
been given in the preceding chapter is that 
which is followed by St. Denis (Dionysius) 


THE HOLY ANGELS 81 

or the Pseudo-Areopagite, the great author¬ 
ity on our subject, as well as by St. John 
Damascene, St. Thomas, and Suarez, if not 
by the majority of modern theologians. We 
shall consider them in that order one by one. 

ANGELS 

According to this arrangement the first or 
lowest hierarchy is made up of the angels, 

the archangels, and the principalities. The 

< 

angels being the least perfect—that is to say, 
when compared with the higher orders, for in 
themselves they are far greater and more per¬ 
fect than anything that we are familiar with— 
are called by the generic name, which is 
taken from the function that is common to 
all the angels, of whom St. Paul says that 
“all are ministering spirits.” Considered in 
general, such ministry does not imply any 
special perfection, and hence the name angel 
which is derived from it, while applicable to 
all, is especially suited to those who have no 



82 THE HOLY ANGELS 

pre-eminence in their ministry, even as they 
have none in their natures. These are the 
angels of the first or lowest choir, from whom, 
it is thought, our guardian angels are reg¬ 
ularly chosen, and who from time to time 
are sent as messengers to private individuals. 

ARCHANGELS 

The second choir of the first hierarchy is 
that of the archangels. The name implies a 
certain superiority in the ministerial office, 
and hence it may be used of all the higher 
orders, but not of the lowest. As such 
superiority in the office of ministering is the 
least pre-eminence that can be attributed to 
the holy angels when compared with one 
another, the name archangel is reserved in a 
special manner for the least of the higher 
orders, that is to say, for the second choir of 
the lowest hierarchy. 

The name does not, as it would seem, im¬ 
ply any authority over the angels of the in- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 83 

ferior choir, but only a greater degree of 
dignity in the ministry which they exercise. 
For whereas the angels are deputed for the 
guardianship of private individuals, the arch¬ 
angels have care of personages of exalted 
rank, such as kings, pontiffs and other rulers; 
and whereas angels are employed for the be¬ 
stowal of personal favors on ordinary people, 
archangels are the agents in the case of bene¬ 
fits affecting the public at large, and in all 
matters of graver moment. 

PRINCIPALITIES 

The foremost place in the first hierarchy is 
assigned by St. Denis (Dionysius) or his 
namesake, and the majority of theologians 
following him, to the choir of the principal¬ 
ities. In all that appertains to the salvation 
of mankind, whether it be question of persons 
of rank or of low degree, of individuals or 
communities, they have authority over the 
angels and archangels and are the intermedi- 


84 THE HOLY ANGELS 

aries through whom the divine will is inti¬ 
mated to them. 

It is likely, too, that certain principalities 
have immediate care of more important states 
or kingdoms as well as of more influential 
princes and bishops; and hence when mention 
is made of “the prince of the Persians,” and 
“the prince of the Greeks,” {Dan. x, 20) the 
word prince is to be understood strictly as 
referring to one of this particular choir of 
angels, and not to an angel of some one of 
the higher orders generally. 

And if we understand the term in the same 
way, when we read “Behold Michael, one of 
the chief princes” {Dan. x, 13), it would 
seem to follow that in the battle where 
“Michael and his angels fought with the 
dragon,” {Apoc. xii, 7) the principalities are 
chiefly meant, as having played the main part 
in that momentous conflict. Not that the 
angels and archangels are excluded from 
their share in it, but that they fight under the 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


85 


leadership of the principalities and of Mi¬ 
chael their chief, whose role is loftier and 
more necessary than their own. 


CHAPTER XIX 
The Nine Choirs ( continued ) 

POWERS 

W E come now to the second hierarchy 
of the holy angels, and here the first 
or lowest place is commonly assigned to the 
powers. It is not easy to see just in what 
their office differs from that of the principal¬ 
ities, but we may say with St. Denis (Dionys¬ 
ius) or his namesake, that in the spiritual 
warfare waged by the demons against the 
human race, the planning and directing of the 
campaign whereby their designs are frus¬ 
trated, belongs to the powers, and the execu¬ 
tion thereof to the three inferior choirs, each 
according to its grade. 



86 THE HOLY ANGELS 

St. Gregory furthermore assigns to the 
powers a special efficacy in curbing the de¬ 
mons, who are forced to submit to their 
authority. Nor is their power over the de¬ 
mons indirect, but it is exercised directly by 
way of command, constraint and, if need be, 
by confining them in fetters. 

VIRTUES 

The Greek name for the virtues, who com¬ 
pose the second choir of the second hier¬ 
archy, is the word from which our adjective 
dynamic is derived, and implies force or en¬ 
ergy. Who is not familiar with the terrific 
energy displayed by dynamite , or with the 
uses of the dynamo , the names of which are 
words of the same origin? 

Virtue on the other hand, is a word of 
Latin derivation, and although we most com¬ 
monly associate it with moral qualities and 
moral excellence (as when we speak of the 
virtue of humility, or of a man of tried vir- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


87 


tue) yet the word, even in English, sometimes 
is employed of mere physical qualities. 
Thus we say that there is a virtue in certain 
herbs; and so in Latin, doubtless by an abuse 
of the term, as Cicero observes, the worth or 
value even of an irrational object, as a horse 
or tree, is called virtus. In Holy Scripture, 
and particularly in the New Testament, this 
use is quite common, and the Latin word 
virtutes is rendered in our version by miracles 
or mighty works. 

The virtues, then, are those blessed spirits 
whom God commonly employs for the work¬ 
ing of signs and miracles, that is, for what¬ 
ever is outside the regular order of events 
established by Providence, as often as the 
government and preservation of the human 
race may call for some extraordinary effect. 
It would not be necessary that in such cases 
their intervention should be recognized. Men 
might not be aware that anything preternat¬ 
ural has happened, and yet as such circum- 


88 THE HOLY ANGELS 

stances may frequently arise, it need not sur¬ 
prise us that one of the heavenly choirs is 
specially deputed for this purpose, without 
preventing the occasional employment of 
angels of the higher or lower orders, for such 
extraordinary effects. 

DOMINATIONS 

The dominations hold the highest place 
among the angels of the second hierarchy. 
They resemble the principalities in this, that 
as the latter not only hold the highest place 
in the lowest hierarchy, but enjoy a certain 
precedence over angels and archangels, with 
authority to direct them, so the dominations 
are supreme over all the blessed spirits of the 
inferior choirs; and without being directly 
occupied with any functions having for their 
end the government of the world or of the 
human race, they exercise a high control over 
the ministry of the lower angels, directing 
them in the discharge of their offices, but in 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


89 


a way which it is difficult to explain without 
seeming to identify their functions with those 
of the principalities or powers. 

One thing we can say of them with cer¬ 
tainty: their names reflect the mystery which 
surrounds their nature and their functions. 
It implies a loftier order of intelligences than 
those previously described—a class of beings 
whose striking characteristic is an extraordi¬ 
nary elevation in the duties that fall to them, 
and a corresponding freedom from restraint 
in their discharge. 


CHAPTER XX 
The Nine Choirs ( continued ) 


THRONES 


W E now come to the most exalted hier¬ 
archy. It is made up of angels 
whose part it is to form the court of the 
heavenly King, to stand forever in His pres- 




90 THE HOLY ANGELS 

ence, and to sing incessantly His praises. 
They are not occupied with the government of 
the world, and are not commonly sent as mes¬ 
sengers to men. For this reason it is hard for 
us to say precisely by what they are distin¬ 
guished one from another, and in what the pe¬ 
culiar excellence and dignity of each consists. 
We cannot explain these, as in the case of,the 
inferior choirs, by pointing out the part that 
is assigned to each in the management of 
human affairs. We can only illustrate them 
by the relationship in which these mighty 
spirits stand to God Himself, and as this is 
something truly sublime, our explanation will 
necessarily be unsatisfactory and obscure. 

There is no doubt that God dwells not only 
in all the holy angels, but also in all the 
blessed in heaven, and in all the just on earth, 
who are His temples through sanctifying 
grace. For grace effects, as Suarez observes, 
a sort of substantial union with God, and 
they into whom He thus enters become, as it 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


91 


were, the seats whereon His Majesty is en¬ 
throned. 

Nevertheless, the name thrones is not un¬ 
suited to serve as a distinctive term whereby 
to designate one of the highest orders of the 
holy angels. For, in the first place, the word 
describes these blessed spirits in their im¬ 
mediate relationship to God and through 
their union with Him, and thus at once exalts 
them above all the lower choirs whom we 
name with reference to this or that external 
ministry. 

Again it sufficiently distinguishes them 
from the second and third choirs of their own 
hierarchy. For although the cherubim and 
seraphim are also the abode of Infinite Maj¬ 
esty, and though God is enthroned in them 
even more perfectly than in the lowest choir, 
yet the name thrones , as expressing an ha¬ 
bitual rather than an actual perfection, is less 
apt to denote the excellence of the higher 
natures, than cherubim and seraphim, terms 


92 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


which imply the exercise of that perfection 
through the acts of knowledge and love. 
Hence the name thrones is appropriated to 
the inferior choir. 

It expresses, then, a certain aptitude and 
fitness on the part of those glorious spirits 
to become the dwelling of the Most High, and 
the seat of His Majesty. It implies a dis¬ 
position on their part of wondrous purity 
and detachment, which prepares them to be 
as thrones, whereon God sits, and whence His 
Majesty shines forth, whilst He rules and 
passes judgment on His creatures. 

CHAPTER XXI 
The Nine Choirs ( continued ) 

CHERUBIM 

T HE cherubim are mentioned more fre¬ 
quently in Holy Writ than any other of 
the celestial choirs, with the exception per¬ 
haps of the angels, which, after all, is a gen- 


The holy angels 93 

eric term. The cherubim are, besides, the 
first of the holy angels to be named in the 
sacred pages. For, at the end of the third 
chapter of Genesis, we are told that after cast- 
ing Adam forth from the Garden of Eden, 
the Lord “placed before the paradise of 
pleasure cherubim, and a flaming sword, turn¬ 
ing every way, to keep the way of the tree 
of life.” 

It is true that some commentators think 
that here the name is used in a broad sense, 
and that the angels deputed to guard the 
earthly paradise were of the choir of the 
principalities, whose place it is to watch over 
kingdoms or provinces; or of the powers, as 
having special authority to curb the evil 
spirits. The reason they are here called 
cherubim would then be the fulness of knowl¬ 
edge which the name signifies and which, in 
an inferior sense, belongs to all the angels. 
On the other hand, it would be most appro¬ 
priate that they who had sinned, as our first 


94 THE HOLY ANGELS 

parents did, through an inordinate desire of 
knowledge, should be restrained and deterred 
by those possessed of true and surpassing 
knowledge. 

This explanation may not satisfy, but to 
take the name cherubim in a broad sense is 
still less satisfactory, where it is used by the 
Prophet Ezechiel, in setting before us the de¬ 
tails of his wonderful vision. ( Ezech . x) 
If we do so, with some writers, we leave our¬ 
selves without certain scriptural warrant for 
asserting the existence of a distinct choir of 
cherubim. The name does also occur, it is 
true, in an earlier passage, in the description 
of the temple (3 Kings vi). The form under 
which the cherubim are there described, cor¬ 
responds substantially with the description 
given by Ezechiel and so, these writers argue, 
if the name need not be taken strictly in the 
latter place, there appears to be no good 
reason why it should be taken strictly in the 
former. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 95 

It is a familiar image, often met with in 
the inspired writers, under which God is por¬ 
trayed as sitting upon the cherubim. It takes 
us back to the days when the Israelites were 
still wandering in the wilderness under the 
guidance of the great law-giver, Moses. In 
the directions which God gave to him for the 
construction of the Ark of the Covenant, a 
chief feature was the propitiatory, or mercy- 
seat, which was to cover the ark. Over ir 
Moses was commanded to set two cherubim 
of beaten gold, spreading their wings and 
looking one toward the other, and at the same 
time toward the mercy-seat. It was from the 
midst of the cherubim thus, as it were, pro¬ 
tecting the propitiatory, that God promised 
to speak to Moses and to deliver to him His 
commands for the children of Israel; and 
that is why the propitiatory was also called 
the oracle . 

In later times it fell to Solomon’s lot to 
build to the Lord a permanent dwelling, the 


96 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


Temple of Jerusalem, and he built it with 
a munificence worthy of himself and of the 
high purpose to which it was dedicated. In¬ 
stead of a propitiatory such as Moses con¬ 
structed, two cubits and a half in length, and 
one cubit and a half in breadth, which merely 
covered the ark from end to end, Solomon 
erected in the inner part of the Temple, the 
House of the Oracle, twenty cubits in length, 
twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits 
in height, and overlaid it with the purest 
gold. 

Then he caused two cherubim of heroic 
size to be made of olive wood and he set them 
above the oracle, one on either side. As they 
stood there, with outstretched wings, like sen¬ 
tinels guarding the propitiatory, they meas¬ 
ured each ten cubits in height and ten cubits 
from the extremity of one wing to the ex¬ 
tremity of the other, and were so placed that 
the inner wings touched one another. And 
when all was ready, “the priests brought in 


THE HOLY ANGELS 97 

the ark of the covenant of the Lord into its 
place, into the oracle of the temple, into the 
holy of holies, under the wings of the cheru¬ 
bim.” (3 Kings viii, 6) 

What, then, is the meaning of this sym¬ 
bolism? Why does God choose, when ad¬ 
dressing His people, to speak to them from 
out the midst of the cherubim “overshadow¬ 
ing the propitiatory” ( Heb . ix , 5)? Why, 
in like manner, does He show His glory to 
Ezechiel “upon the chariot of cherubim” 
( Eccles . xlix , 10)1 

The name cherubim is usually explained as 
signifying the fulness of knowledge and 
hence in Ezechiel’s vision, the strange forms 
which appeared to him and which he calls 
cherubim, were full of eyes. But God’s 
knowledge is infinitely above that of the high¬ 
est of His creatures, and He it is who with 
wise providence rules all things, directing 
them by the ministry of the angels. They 
are under the God of Israel; “His glory 


98 THE HOLY ANGELS 

went forth . . . and stood over the cheru¬ 
bim.” ( Ezech . x, 18) 

And because His providence is so swift, 
and extends to the farthest parts of the world, 
it is said of Him that “He ascended upon the 
cherubim and he flew; he flew upon the wings 
of the winds.” ( Ps . xvii , 11). And so in 
the vision of Ezechiel, there are wheels and a 
chariot moving in all directions, and the cher¬ 
ubim are they who bear or guide the chariot 
of the Lord, which is equivalent to saying that 
God dwells in all heavenly minds, as upon the 
throne of His Majesty, and as supreme Mon¬ 
arch reigns over them, and through them gov¬ 
erns all things with resistless energy. The 
answers which He gave to Moses from the 
mercy-seat, called also the oracle on that ac¬ 
count, were only a particular revelation of 
the wisdom of God, as displayed in His gen¬ 
eral providence oyer His creatures. 

The word cherub (of which cherubim is 
the Hebrew plural) occurs in yet another 


the holy angels 99 

striking passage of Holy Scripture, where 
the Prophet Ezechiel thus addresses Lucifer 
(for in the person of the King of Tyre, Luci¬ 
fer is certainly intended): “Thou a cherub 
stretched out, and protecting. . . 

The allusion is to the appearance of the 
cherubim as designed for the mercy-seat, with 
outstretched wings protecting it, and the im¬ 
plication is that Lucifer was, by nature, of 
surpassing excellence and, as it were, a guard¬ 
ian to the rest. He is called, however, not a 
seraph, although it seems more likely that 
he was one of the highest of the seraphim; 
but a cherub, because while he retained the 
perfection of his natural knowledge, he had 
fallen away from love. Not, of course, as 
though the cherubim are lacking in divine 
love, which results from their transcen¬ 
dent knowledge of God, but because the lat¬ 
ter is the characteristic which gives them 
their distinctive rank among the blessed 
spirits. 



> > > 


100 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


CHAPTER XXII 

The Nine Choirs ( continued ) 

SERAPHIM 

H IGHEST of all the holy angels, on the 
loftiest pinnacle of heaven, stand the 
glorious seraphim. Apart from the human 
nature of the Incarnate Word, and that other 
masterpiece, God’s Blessed Mother, they are 
the most perfect creation of Divine Wisdom 
and Omnipotence. They are bright with a 
radiance which beyond all else, most power¬ 
fully and most wonderfully reflects the splen¬ 
dors of the infinite Godhead. 

The name itself, seraphim, is by some in¬ 
terpreted, “the exalted ones,” but the more 
common explanation connects it with a root 
which means “to consume with fire.” The 
flame with which they burn is that of love, 
and its effects are to enlighten and cleanse. 



the holy angels 101 

When Isaias, in his great vision beheld the 
Lord on the throne of His majesty, and 
heard the seraphim, as they stood round 
about, cry one to another, “Holy, holy, holy, 
the Lord God of hosts, all the earth is full of 
His glory,” he was seized with fear at the 
thought of his own unworthiness and ex¬ 
claimed: “Woe is me, . . . because I am a 
man of unclean lips, . . . and I have seen 
with my eyes the King the Lord of hosts.” 
Then suddenly one of the seraphim flew to¬ 
wards him, with a live coal in his hand, which 
he had taken from the altar of the temple, 
touched the prophet’s mouth, and said, “Be¬ 
hold, this hath touched thy lips, and thy in¬ 
iquities shall be taken away, and thy sin shall 
be cleansed.” (Is. vi ) 

This refining flame of love is enkindled in 
the breasts of the seraphim by their clear 
vision of the Creator, whom they behold with 
a depth and penetration of view far greater 
than is enjoyed by any other of the sacred 


102 THE HOLY ANGELS 

choirs; and yet it is love, not knowledge, 
which gives them their name and serves as 
their distinctive characteristic. That is be¬ 
cause love supposes knowledge. It is knowl¬ 
edge which begets love, and the more ardent 
and intense is the love, the more profound is 
the knowledge from which it springs. On the 
other hand, the notion of knowledge does not 
of itself imply love, for knowledge may exist 
without producing love. And hence it is that 
to designate the most exalted of all the celes¬ 
tial choirs, the more inclusive term, love, is 
invoked to supply the name seraphim, while 
that of cherubim is appropriated to the one 
next in perfection. 

So closely associated with the highest order 
of angels is the idea of love, that we acclaim 
as a seraph, one whose love we would com¬ 
mend as extraordinary in point of intensity 
and tenderness. Hence the epithet seraphic 
has become inseparable from the name of 
the lowly and gentle Saint of Assisi, and we 


the holy angels 103 

even apply the term to the whole order of 
which he was the founder. For the same rea¬ 
son, that is, on account of the all-pervading 
spirit of love which animates his writings, 
we speak of St. Bonaventure, as the Seraphic 
Doctor. 

But it is not merely in name that St. Fran¬ 
cis is associated with the seraphim. There 
is also that wonderful story—so beautifully 
and touchingly related by St. Bonaventure— 
the story of the impression upon his hands 
and feet and side, of the sacred stigmata of 
Our Lord. For it was a glorious seraph with 
glittering wings all aflame, who appeared to 
Francis, and as he descended to earth with 
rapid flight, Francis saw that his hands and 
feet were nailed to a cross. But as the Saint 
was deeply touched at this, and filled with 
tender sympathy, the angel explained to him 
that the representation was only symbolical, 
and that just as it was impossible for a seraph 
to experience physical pain, so it was not in 




104 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


the designs of God that Francis should be a 
martyr in the ordinary sense of the word, but 
that his likeness to his Crucified Saviour was 
to be accomplished by the flames of love which 
should consume his soul. And yet as the 
vision left him, the sacred stigmata remained 
indelibly impressed upon his innocent flesh. 


CHAPTER XXIII 

Angels in Attendance—Ministering 

Angels 

r [E distinction between these two classes 
of angels is not arbitrary or fanciful. 
On the contrary, it is scriptural, at least as 
far as the language itself is concerned. For 
it is written: “Thousands of thousands min¬ 
istered to him, and ten thousand times a hun¬ 
dred thousand stood before him.” ( Dan . vii, 
10 ) 

The numerals employed by the Prophet 


THE HOLY ANGELS 105 

are no doubt indefinite in both cases, and in¬ 
tended to convey the notion of a multitude 
quite beyond the power of human words to 
express. The second number, however, is 
the larger of the two; from which we seem to 
be justified in inferring that they who stand 
in ceaseless attendance upon the Most High, 
are a vastly greater throng than they whose 
duty it is to busy themselves with such func¬ 
tions in the outer world, as have to do with 
the salvation of mankind. 

But the question at once arises, are the 
two classes of blessed spirits mutually ex¬ 
clusive? Do they who stand before the 
throne never go forth to minister? Do they 
who minister never swell the ranks of those 
who form the inner court of the great King? 

And here Catholic theologians are divided. 
Some deny that there is any such fundamental 
distinction and hold that all from the high¬ 
est to the lowest are sent to minister, while 
all likewise appear before the throne. St. 


106 THE HOLY ANGELS 

Thomas, on the contrary, upholds a set and 
rigid distinction between the two orders of 
angels, and will not allow that the higher 
classes of blessed spirits may, even by ex¬ 
ception, be sent to minister. And in this he 
seems to follow the teaching of the great 
classic, “The Celestial Hierarchy,” with 
which St. Gregory is substantially in accord. 

Suarez, on the other hand, while maintain¬ 
ing a strict distinction between the two classes 
of angels, is not as unyielding in the matter 
of exceptions. He would allow that, at 
times, even the most exalted of the angels 
may be sent forth as ambassadors from the 
heavenly court, when there is question of do¬ 
ing honor to some great mystery, such as the 
Incarnation, the Nativity, or the Resurrection 
of Our Lord, or of showing special favor to 
some distinguished friend of God. 

There are, however, certain texts of Scrip¬ 
ture which are not easily made to harmonize 
with the idea of a real distinction between 


THE HOLY ANGELS 107 

the two classes. Thus St. Paul, contrasting 
the angels with Christ, and proclaiming their 
inferiority as compared with the Son of God, 
asks: “Are they not all ministering spirits, 
sent to minister for them, who shall receive 
the inheritance of salvation?” ( Heb . i, 14) 

Now it hardly seems to be doubtful that 
the Apostle is here speaking of the angels 
quite universally, as would appear to be evi¬ 
dent both from the language itself and from 
the purpose in view, which is to exalt Christ 
above all others. And hence it remains to 
be explained how those angels who, in the 
opinion to which we are now referring, are 
never engaged in any exterior activity, may 
be said to minister “for those who receive 
the inheritance of salvation.” 

The explanation which is given by St. 
Thomas and by Suarez is that the higher 
angels enlighten the lower, and intimate to 
them the will of God in matters affecting the 
salvation of souls, and that this activity, al- 


108 THE HOLY ANGELS 

though wholly interior, is a true and properly 
so-called ministry. And if you object that 
St. Paul does not merely say that all are 
ministering spirits, but adds “sent to minis¬ 
ter,” thus implying that they go forth from 
the presence of God, and directly busy them¬ 
selves with what appertains to the welfare of 
man, Suarez replies that the second clause 
has not the same universality as the first. 
St. Paul does not say that all are sent, nor 
is it necessary for his argument. For if all 
are servants, whereas Christ is the Son, then 
it is plain that He is above all. 

When, then, we distinguish between angels 
who are ever in attendance upon the King of 
kings, and those who minister to Him, we do 
not imply that the former in no sense minis¬ 
ter (for in a broader sense they do) but only 
that they are not employed in exterior works 
for the welfare of mankind, whether as di¬ 
recting the operations of the lower angels, 


THE HOLY ANGELS 109 

or as immediately engaged in executing what 
has been enjoined upon them. 

Neither is it to be understood, when we 
speak of ministering angels, that these are 
in no sense in attendance upon the Most High. 
For all alike, enjoy the Beatific Vision ac¬ 
cording to the words of Our Lord himself: 
“I say to you, that their angels in heaven al¬ 
ways see the face of my Father who is in 
heaven” ( Matt . xviii, 10), words which ap¬ 
ply directly to the guardian angels of the 
little ones, but are a fortiori to be applied to 
all the higher orders. Nevertheless the term 
ministering well serves to distinguish those 
who in a strict sense minister, being engaged 
in exterior offices, from those who do so only 
in the broad sense explained above. On the 
other hand, the expression in attendance is 
in a special manner applicable to those whose 
prerogative it is ever to abide in the Divine 
Presence, exempt from any outward function, 


110 THE HOLY ANGELS 

and at all times to receive directly from the 
Supreme Source of light, the rays which they 
shed upon the blessed spirits who are of in¬ 
ferior rank. 

One remark remains to be made concerning 
the choir of the dominations. These glorious 
spirits, as the most exalted of ministering an¬ 
gels, are not regularly sent to discharge this 
or that office in the outer world, whatever 
they may exceptionally be commissioned to 
do, but theirs is a condition of superiority 
or pre-eminence, in virtue of which they inti¬ 
mate to those beneath them what each must 
do, declaring to them the Divine Will, or in 
a general way, assigning to them their various 
functions. And thus the dominations hold a 
sort of middle place between the angels of 
the third hierarchy, whose sole occupation is 
with God himself and His sovereign Majesty, 
and the rest, on whom it devolves to execute 
the Will of God in the promotion of the in¬ 
terests of our human race. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


111 


CHAPTER XXIV 


Are the Angels Many? 


W". 


[AT more striking in nature than the 
profusion with which her riches are 


scattered everywhere? Who would under¬ 
take to enumerate the blossoms of spring, 
he bright flowers that enamel the fields in sum¬ 
mer, the rich fruits that weigh down the trees 
at harvest-time? Who can count the stars 
of heaven? Who can reckon the multitude 
of the raindrops, which the storm-cloud en¬ 
folds in its bosom, or hurls downward to in¬ 
undate the lands? Who can tell the number 
of the snow-flakes that fall silently to earth 
in serried phalanxes in the bleak winter¬ 
time, or are tossed and whirled hither and 
thither, over hill and vale, over river and 
lake, through lanes and streets, and open 
fields, in the path of the raging blizzard? 



112 THE HOLY ANGELS 

It might be an exaggeration to say that 
to form to oneself an idea of the multitude 
of the angels, one must have recourse to com¬ 
parisons such as these, and yet reputable 
theologians have thought, and St. Thomas 
himself seems in various places to assert, that 
the number of the angels exceeds that of all 
material substances. 

What we know for certain, because it fol¬ 
lows plainly from the words of Holy Writ, 
is that for us and from our point of view, 
the angels are a numberless throng. “Is 
there any numbering of His soldiers?” asks 
one of the friends of Job. And the expres¬ 
sions employed by Daniel, in describing his 
vision of the Ancient of Days sitting upon 
His Throne, of whom he says that “thousands 
of thousands ministered to him, and ten thou¬ 
sand times a hundred thousand stood before 
him,” are evidently intended to convey the 
idea of an indefinite multitude, rather than 
an exact number. Of these, the former 


THE HOLY ANGELS 113 

phrase is again used, with a similar mean¬ 
ing, by both St. Paul and St. John. ( Heb . xii, 
22) ( Apoc . v, 11) 

We might indeed argue after the following 
fashion, to prove how incalculably great is 
the multitude of the blessed spirits. Our 
guardian angels are chosen from the lowest 
choir, which is that of the angels, and as each 
of us has his guardian angel, distinct from 
those of other men, it follows that the angels 
of the lowest choir are at least as numerous 
as those of our race who live at any given 
time. That alone would put their number at 
upward of a billion. And this reckoning, 
if extended to the past and to the future, so 
as to embrace the whole history of mankind 
from the beginning of the world to the end, 
would add very considerably to an already 
exceedingly great multitude. It would, in 
other words, make the number of the angels 
of the lowest choir alone equal to that of the 
whole human race. 


114 THE HOLY ANGELS 

Now the blessed spirits of the higher choirs 
are commonly thought to surpass in number 
those who are beneath them in point of per¬ 
fection and excellence, and thus it is evi¬ 
dent that the angels of the loftiest choir, and 
much more the aggregate of all the angels, 
present a simply countless array—not in¬ 
deed in the sense that they cannot be num¬ 
bered, or that their number is not known to 
God and to the angels themselves, but that 
it quite baffles the power of our human imag¬ 
ination, and cannot be expressed by any or¬ 
dinary combination of figures. 

At the same time it must be admitted that 
the foundation on which this argument is built 
is uncertain. We cannot be sure that the 
same angel may not be deputed to guard suc¬ 
cessively a number of different individuals. 
Some have even thought that the same angel 
might at one and the same time act as guard¬ 
ian to several human beings. This, however, 
is very unlikely in itself, on account of the 


THE HOLY ANGELS 115 

difficulty of such an arrangement, amounting 
almost to impossibility, and it is also hard 
to reconcile with the testimonies of the Holy 
Fathers and less calculated to show forth the 
power and the liberality of Almighty God. 

We must rest satisfied then with knowing 
in a general way that the angels are a vast 
and, practically speaking, innumerable throng 
of glorious spirits, created in such multitudes 
because it was befitting that infinite Majesty 
should surround itself with unnumbered hosts 
of mighty princes, whose presence should at¬ 
test the glory of their soveregin Lord, and 
whose whole being should be at His beck for 
the immediate accomplishment of His will. 




SPECIALLY HONORED AMONG THE 

ANGELS 


CHAPTER XXV 


Our Guardian Angels 

CATHOLIC TEACHING 

T HE angelic nature, being wholly spir¬ 
itual, is far superior to ours and the 
very least of the angels is a prince, compared 
with whom all earthly beauty and wisdom 
are as dross, and all human might is frailty. 
It is not, then, a matter of course that they 
should wait on us, but a dispensation of in¬ 
finite love, the same which prompted God’s 
own Son to come among us, “not to be min¬ 
istered unto, but to minister.” “For he hath 
given his angels charge over thee, that they 
keep thee in all thy ways. In their hands 
they shall bear thee up, lest perhaps thou 
dash thy foot against a stone.” ( Ps . xc, 
11 - 12 ) 


119 


120 THE HOLY ANGELS 

In the words of the psalmist we find, not 
only a clear assertion of the fact that the 
guardianship of men has been intrusted to 
the holy angels, but the motive also for so 
loving a dispensation,—man’s frailty and the 
dangers to which he is exposed. These 
might, indeed, of themselves have moved the 
good angels to sympathize with us, especially 
when we bear in mind that the main source 
of danger to us is the warfare which the 
fallen angels cease not to wage against us. 
But, as a matter of fact, it is in fulfilment 
of a sacred trust confided to them by our 
common Creator, that our guardian angels 
surround us everywhere with their powerful 
protection. It is not of their own free choice, 
but as a solemn duty, that they are ever alert 
and active for our welfare. 

It might, it is true, be objected that the 
psalmist is here speaking not of men in gen¬ 
eral, but of Christ. For the Psalm is Mes¬ 
sianic, and certainly the demon so under- 



THE HOLY ANGELS 121 

stood the words, and in one of the tempta¬ 
tions applied them to Christ. But because 
the passage quoted is to be understood espe¬ 
cially of Christ, as St. Augustine, St. Ambrose 
and others expound it, it does not follow that 
there is question only of Him. On the con¬ 
trary, the Fathers commonly interpret it as 
referring to all mankind, as the opening 
words of the Psalm would seem to indicate 
that it does. For there the psalmist asserts, 
quite universally, that “he who dwelleth in 
the aid of the Most High, shall abide in the 
protection of the God of Jacob,” of which 
protection the guardianship of the holy an¬ 
gels is a singular instance. 

So, too, in another passage, the same in¬ 
spired writer declares in general terms that 
“the angel of the Lord shall encamp round 
about them that fear Him, and shall deliver 
them.” ( Ps . xxxiii , 8) 

Thus, if we confine ourselves to the gen¬ 
eral statement that by the ineffable provi- 


122 THE HOLY ANGELS 

dence of God, the angels have been deputed 
to guard men on their pathway through life, 
it is, as Suarez says, a doctrine of faith, for 
it is expressly contained in Holy Scripture. 
If, going a step further, we assert that each 
individual of the human race has a guardian 
angel appointed to watch over him from birth, 
we are still enunciating a Catholic belief, 
not indeed contained explicitly in Holy Writ, 
nor defined by the Church as an article of 
faith, but so universally received and with 
such solid foundation in Holy Scripture, as 
interpreted by the Fathers, that it cannot 
without great rashness be called into ques¬ 
tion. In fact, to deny it might almost be 
termed erroneous. 

Certainly our Divine Lord says, speaking 
of little children: “See that you despise 
not one of these little ones, for I say to you 
that their angels in heaven always see the 
face of my Father who is in heaven.” {Matt, 
xviii, 10) And St. Jerome, commenting on 


THE HOLY ANGELS 123 

these words, infers from them the great dig¬ 
nity of our souls, seeing that each has from 
birth an angel deputed to watch over it. And 
the holy Doctor argues to the same effect 
from the words of the disciples, when Peter 
stood at the gate and knocked, after his mi¬ 
raculous escape from prison. They could not 
credit the message of the portress, that it was 
Peter himself, and they said: “It is his an¬ 
gel” (Acts xii, 75), showing thereby what was 
already the common persuasion of the faith¬ 
ful. 

Another passage of Holy Writ, which the 
Fathers quote to prove that we have each our 
guardian angel, is that wherein Jacob, in 
blessing the sons of Joseph, says: “The an¬ 
gel that delivered me from all evils, bless 
these boys.” In their comments on this text 
and on those previously quoted, Catholic in¬ 
terpreters are quite at one. The texts all 
alike imply the doctrine universally received 
in the Church, to the effect that not only are 


124 THE HOLY ANGELS 

angels commissioned in a general way to 
guard mankind, but, as St. Anselm says, 
“every soul, at the moment when it is infused 
into the body, is entrusted to the keeping of 
an angel.” 

The language of Holy Writ is not perhaps 
as explicit as we could wish, but the tradi¬ 
tional understanding of the inspired word, as 
conveyed to us by the Fathers of the Church, 
of whom many others might be quoted, leaves 
nothing to be desired. Yet, admitting that 
each individual is provided with a guardian 
angel, it might still be questioned whether the 
same angel may not be at once the guardian 
of two or more. To this we can only say 
that the view according to which each one’s 
angel is distinct from his neighbor’s, and 
deputed to guard him exclusively, is more in 
keeping with the language of the Fathers, 
and more in harmony with the common under¬ 
standing of the faithful. Also, the liberality 
and munificence of Almighty God are more 


THE HOLY ANGELS 125 

apparent in this view and it also avoids the 
difficulty (amounting, it would seem, to an 
impossibility) of having one angel serve as 
guardian to individuals dwelling apart in 
distant places. 

There have been some who would have re¬ 
stricted this salutary guardianship of the an¬ 
gels to those who are destined one day to 
share with them the happiness of heaven, or 
to those at least, who are in the state of grace 
and so long as they do not fall from grace. 
But the well-considered, common opinion of 
Catholic theologians, basing their views on 
the concordant language of the Fathers, as¬ 
signs a guardian angel indiscriminately to 
just man and sinner, to believer and unbe¬ 
liever, to Christian and heathen alike. 

For God denies to no man sufficient help 
to save his soul and in the actual order of 
divine Providence, the guardianship of the 
holy angels is one of the elements which go 
to make up that sufficient help. For God 


126 THE HOLY ANGELS 

permits men good and bad, to be tempted by 
the demon, though of themselves they are 
unable to resist the tempter successfully. 
Hence He also provides them with the assist¬ 
ance and protection of the holy angels, so as 
to supply for their insufficiency. 

And just as the angels guard those who 
have never had faith or sanctifying grace, so 
too, they continue their guardianship over 
those who have lost the faith or have fallen 
away from grace. In fact, this is one of 
those special provisions of the divine mercy, 
whereby God ever seeks the reconciliation of 
the sinner and urges him to turn from his evil 
ways. 

Then too, even the just and the elect are 
exposed to the assaults and temptations of the 
evil one. Why should not the good angels 
solicit the sinner and by holy inspirations 
and illuminations seek to bring about his re¬ 
turn to God, or at least prevent him from 
sinking to even lower depths of sin? Either 


THE HOLY ANGELS 127 

result would be apt to contribute greatly to 
the welfare of the just, by removing from 
them to a greater or less degree the bad ex¬ 
ample of the wicked, which often has so bane¬ 
ful an influence on the lives of others. 

WHEN OUR ANGELS’ GUARDIANSHIP BEGINS 

The little child whom our Blessed Lord set 
in the midst of the disciples, as a model of 
humility, innocence and simplicity, was 
surely a very young child and free from the 
strife of the passions, as St. Chrysostom in¬ 
sists. St. Ambrose, too, holds that while he 
lacked the use of reason, he was also without 
guilt of any kind. And St. Jerome says that 
Our Lord proposed him as a pattern of inno¬ 
cence, because he was not of an age at which 
he could sin. 

And so when our Blessed Lord uttered a 
solemn warning against scandalizing “these 
little ones,” and gave as a motive the dignity 
which they derive from the guardianship of 


128 THE HOLY ANGELS 

the angels, His words are a convincing ar¬ 
gument to show that the angels are deputed to 
guard men from their very infancy and, as St. 
Jerome rightly infers, from birth. For, once 
we admit that the use of reason is not a con¬ 
dition, we have no grounds for restricting 
the guardianship to any particular period of 
infancy. 

But while it is commonly said that each one 
has from birth a guardian angel appointed to 
watch over him, it may be disputed whether 
by birth we should not here understand the 
very moment when the soul is infused into 
the body, and the child begins to have its own 
distinct being and personality, already a way¬ 
farer on the path to heaven and capable of 
incurring for itself, the guilt of original sin. 
A special angel, deputed to guard it from 
that period, would be more particularly inter¬ 
ested in its welfare and would exercise over 
it a more loving care. This is the opinion 
of Father Suarez, as well as of St. Bonaven- 


the holy angels 129 

ture, and others and, as it would seem, of the 
Angelic Doctor. 

SPECIAL GUARDIAN ANGELS 

There can be no reasonable doubt, if we 
consider the language of Scriptures together 
with the common teaching of the Holy 
Fathers, that kingdoms and dioceses also have 
their guardian spirits. It is likewise prob¬ 
able that popes and kings, and prelates and 
other rulers have, over and above the angel 
guardian assigned to them from birth, a spe¬ 
cial angel of a higher order, whose place 
it is to guide them according to the dictates of 
that higher prudence which their public 
duties call for. This angel would be of the 
choir of the archangels, or perhaps, in the 
case of the greatest kings and pontiffs, of 
the order of the principalities. 

It is, furthermore, a weighty opinion that 
special angels are charged with the care of the 
various portions of the universe—of what 



130 THE HOLY ANGELS 


used to be known as the elements—that is, 
earth, fire, water, air, and of the different 
species of material things, both animate and 
inanimate. This is not without foundation 
in Holy Scripture, and especially in the Apoc¬ 
alypse, where we read of “the angels of the 
waters,” and of “the angel who had power 
over fire.” And it is also the opinion of St. 
Thomas, St. Augustine, and other Fathers, 
and is defended by Suarez. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


Our Guardian Angels 


WHAT THEY DO FOR US 



IHE most obvious service which our an¬ 


gels render us is to guard us from 
harm. It is implied in the very name of 
guardian angels, and they do indeed watch 
over us and keep us from a thousand perils 
of both sou'l and body—perils of which. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 131 

oftentimes, we ourselves are unaware. And 
this they effect either by removing the occa¬ 
sion of danger, or by prompting us to avoid 
it. They flash into our minds rays of 
heavenly light and stir our hearts with sal¬ 
utary emotions, setting before us in an at¬ 
tractive manner the good they would have us 
do or moving us to dread and to shun the evil 
which they would have us flee. 

Again, our good angels hold the demons 
in check, not suffering them to tempt us as 
often or as violently as they fain would do. 
In fact, as a certain pious author observes, 
whom Suarez quotes approvingly, the evil 
spirits dare not assail us with our angel look¬ 
ing on; it is only when he hides himself, in 
order to let them tempt us for our soul’s 
profit, that they make bold to attack us. 

Then too, especially, they offer our prayers 
and good works to God. For thus the An¬ 
gel Raphael said to the elder Tobias: 
“When thou didst pray with tears, and didst 


132 THE HOLY ANGELS 

bury the dead ... I offered thy prayer to 
the Lord.” ( Tob . xii, 12) So St. John says: 
“And another angel came, and stood before 
the altar, having a golden censer; and there 
was given to him muc}h incense . . . and 
the smoke of the incense of the prayers of 
the saints ascended up before God from 
the hand of the angel.” ( Apoc . viii, 3-4) 
Again, Jacob in his vision saw the angels 
ascending and descending; ascending, to bear 
to God the prayers of mankind, descending 
to bring to men the answer to their prayers. 

And when we say that our guardian an¬ 
gels present our prayers and our good works 
to God, we mean that they unite their prayers 
with ours, to give them greater efficacy. In¬ 
deed, they cease not to entreat God in our be¬ 
half and this constant intercession for us is 
one of the chief benefits coming to us from 
the guardianship of the holy angels. But 
while all the angels pray for us, our guardian 
angel does so with special earnestness by 


the holy angels 133 

reason of the ties that bind us to him more 
closely than to the rest of the blessed spirits. 

Sometimes, however, it is the duty of our 
guardian angels to chastise and punish us, 
when it is expedient for the welfare of our 
souls. And here we must distinguish such 
punishments as are penalties and nothing else, 
and those which have for their motive the 
amendment of the sinner, and are called me¬ 
dicinal. To these should be added yet an¬ 
other class of penalties if they may be called 
so, which imply no fault on the part of the 
person suffering them, but are merely trials 
sent for his greater spiritual profit. 

The first species of punishments proceed, 
not from the mercy, but from the outraged 
justice of God, and are intended to strike 
terror into the hearts of all who come to know 
of them. These are commonly inflicted by 
the evil spirits, whom God in such cases uses 
as His instruments. Yet at times we see 
even the good angels employed as the agents 


134 THE HOLY ANGELS 

of God’s wrath. It was so in the case of 
Sodom and Gomorrha. The two holy angels 
who befriended Lot and brought him with 
his wife and daughters safely out of Sodom, 
then brought down fire and brimstone from 
heaven to consume the wicked cities of the 
plain. 

It was a good angel who stretched forth 
his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it for 
David’s sin of enumerating his people, and 
only spared it because God was appeased by 
the repentance and entreaties of His servant. 
It was also an angel of the Lord who slew 
the host of Sennacherib, the proud and boast¬ 
ful enemy of Israel. 

It would, however, seem more in keeping 
with the beneficent office of our guardian an¬ 
gels, that God should make use of them for 
the infliction of medicinal chastisements— 
that is, of those which have for their end the 
cure of our spiritual ailments—as well as 
of that other class of sufferings, which are 


THE HOLY ANGELS 135 

meant to try the virtue of the servants of God, 
and afford to others an example of patience. 
And if at times, in inflicting these, God is 
pleased to employ the evil spirits, as in the 
case of Job, or of Sara, wife of the younger 
Tobias, not to speak of numerous instances 
with which we meet in the lives of the saints, 
it is likely that in such cases the demons act 
under the supervision of the good angels, and 
only as these permit or compel them to act. 

But the divine chastisements may fall upon 
communities as well as upon individuals, and 
in such cases they proceed from the guard¬ 
ian angel of the community in question, when 
the object intended is the common good; or 
from the demons, when the punishment is sim¬ 
ply the effect of the wrath of God or when it 
falls within the scope of some more universal 
providence. Here, too, the good angels may 
intervene either as constraining the demons 
to act as instruments of the divine justice, or 
as themselves directly inflicting the penalties. 


136 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


In the former case the action would be proper 
to the powers, whose special function it is to 
coerce the evil spirits; in the latter it would 
belong to the choir of virtues, whose preroga¬ 
tive it is to do such things as are of their 
nature extraordinary and, so to say, mirac¬ 
ulous. 


CHAPTER XXVII 


Our Guardian Angels 


AFTER DEATH 



E guardianship of our good angels, 


properly speaking, ends with death. 
For at death a'll dangers cease, nor is there 
further opportunity for spiritual progress. 
And yet our angels’ loving care surrounds us 
still. If we are so happy at that dread mo¬ 
ment as to be found without spot or wrinkle, 
if we are free from every stain of guilt, and 
if our debt of punishment for sin has been 
fully paid, then our guardian angel will joy- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 137 

fully conduct us to our heavenly home. 
Such is the prayer of our fond mother the 
Church for each and every one of her chil¬ 
dren whom she is called upon to aid at the 
hour of the last supreme struggle. “Assist 
him, ye Saints of God,” she prays, “come 
forth to meet him, ye Angels of the Lord. 
Receive his soul, and present it in the sight 
of the Most High.” 

For our own good angel will be joined by 
troops of blessed spirits, who will rejoice at 
our happy lot, and will gladly applaud the 
fortunate issue of our warfare with the 
wicked angels. And hence once more, in the 
burial service, as the remains of the deceased 
are being borne to their last resting-place, 
Holy Church bids her ministers chant the 
touching antiphon: “May the angels escort 
thee to paradise; at thy coming may the mar¬ 
tyrs welcome thee, and conduct thee to the 
holy city Jerusalem. May a Choir of Angels 
receive thee, and with Lazarus, once poor, 


138 THE HOLY ANGELS 

mayest thou have rest everlasting.” This is 
the Lazarus who once sat as a beggar at the 
rich man’s gate, all full of sores, without a 
crumb to eat, but of whom Our Lord himself 
assures us that, when he died, he “was car¬ 
ried by angels into Abraham’s bosom.” (Luke 
xvi, 22) 

We shall not then be forsaken by our good 
angel in death, and if, at that solemn hour, 
there are still certain remains of sin which 
must be cleansed away in the refining flames 
of purgatory, some debt of punishment which 
we have yet to pay to the divine justice, our 
faithful guardian will conduct us to the place 
of expiation, and will often visit and console 
us in our prison-house, until at last our debt 
is fully cancelled, and our soul, resplendent 
with heavenly light and beauty, is ready to 
wing its flight upward to the place of ever¬ 
lasting bliss. How gladly will he then em¬ 
brace us! How joyfully will he accompany 
us even to the throne of God and into the 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


139 


midst of the throngs of glorious angels, fel¬ 
low-citizens with us of the heavenly kingdom 
and joint-heirs of its boundless, never-end- 
ing joy and peace! 


CHAPTER XXVIII 
Our Guardian Angels 

HOW WE SHOULD REQUITE THEIR LOVE 

O UR guardian angel is our best and old¬ 
est friend. He has been with us from 
our birth, and will abide with us till the end. 
In all the ups and downs of our life, he has 
never once departed from our side. Even 
our coldness towards him, our utter forget¬ 
fulness of him, our rank ingratitude, have 
not been able to drive him from us. Our 
sins themselves, however heinous, have not 
silenced his voice of admonition and warning. 
They have only served to move him to pray 
more urgently for us, to chide and rebuke us, 


140 THE HOLY ANGELS 

and to endeavor to rouse within us sentiments 
of bitter remorse, in order to bring us back 
once more to the narrow path. 

We may choose for ourselves this one or 
that one among the saints, to be our specially 
beloved patron, but God himself has picked 
for us our guardian angel, and has given to 
him a very particular affection for us, and 
a very deep solicitude for our best welfare. 
“Behold I will send my angel, who shall go 
before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, 
and bring thee into the place that I have pre¬ 
pared. Take notice of him, and hear his 
voice, and do not think him.one to be con¬ 
demned: for he will not forgive when thou 
hast sinned, and my name is in him. But * 
if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I 
speak, I will be an enemy to thy endmies, 
and will afflict them that afflict thee.” {Ex. 
xxiii, 20-22) 

These words were spoken by the Lord to 
His chosen people when they were on their 


the holy angels 141 

way to the Promised Land. But we know 
that everything that befell them was symbol¬ 
ical of God’s dealings with his Christian peo¬ 
ple, and the Church herself applies these 
words to our guardian angels. 

Here, then, we have clearly pointed out 
to us our duty towards our guardian angel. 
God wants us above all things to be docile 
to his voice, and not to imagine that we can 
disregard it with impunity. We owe him, 
doubtless, love and respect and gratitude, but 
we show these best by our fidelity in follow¬ 
ing at all times his guidance. His voice 
may be still and small to those who open wide 
their ears to the promptings of the passions, 
and of a worldly spirit, but by one who listens 
it can be distinctly heard above all inward 
strife, and the din and tumult from without. 

St. Bernard, commenting on the words of 
Psalm #c4--already quoted: “He hath given 
his angels charge over thee, that they keep 
thee in all thy ways,”—lays down three 


142 THE HOLY ANGELS 

duties that we owe to our guardian angels. 
The first is reverence, which the mere pres¬ 
ence of so exalted a being demands of us. 
If we had an abiding sentiment of reverence 
for him, we should never permit ourselves to 
do aught in his presence that we should fear 
to do before the eyes of a man whom we re¬ 
spected. 

The second duty is one of devotion, in re¬ 
turn for all his affectionate love for us. We 
cannot doubt its depth and sincerity. It is 
enough for him that God has made us in 
His own image, that He has so loved us as to 
give His only begotten Son for us, that He 
has confided us to the keeping of the angels, 
as younger brethren of and future co-heirs 
with these holy spirits, in the heavenly king¬ 
dom. 

The third duty is that of unbounded con¬ 
fidence in his watchful guardianship and pro¬ 
tection. No real harm can come to us if we 


THE HOLY ANGELS 143 

trust in him. He is ever on the alert; the 
demons can never take him by surprise. He 
is endowed with heavenly wisdom and will 
surely direct us aright amid the deceits and 
snares of the evil one. He has undoubted 
might to repel even the fiercest assaults of our 
enemies, if we but recommend ourselves to 
him. We may go forward fearlessly under 
his protection, but we ought to strive to ren¬ 
der ourselves deserving of it, by frequently 
appealing to him in our various needs. 

There is yet another duty which we owe 
to the guardian angels in general. It is one 
of reverence for those over whom they watch, 
how little soever and insignificant they may 
otherwise appear to be. Our Divine Lord 
makes the dignity which comes to the little 
ones from the tutelage of their guardian an¬ 
gels, a very pressing motive for respecting 
them and avoiding aught that might prove a 
scandal or a stumbling-block to them. And 


144 THE HOLY ANGELS 

St. Hilary, a propos of Our Lord’s warning 
on this head, has the following eloquent pas¬ 
sage : 

“He has imposed the appropriate bond of 
mutual love, for those especially who have 
truly believed in the Lord. For the angels 
of the little ones daily see God: because the 
Son of man has come to save what was lost. 
Hence the Son of man saves, and the angels 
see God, and the angels of the little ones pre¬ 
side over the prayers of the faithful. That 
the angels preside we have on unquestionable 
authority. The angels then daily present to 
God the prayers of those who are saved 
through Christ. Hence it is a dangerous 
thing to despise one whose desires and peti¬ 
tions are borne to the eternal and invisible 
God through the dazzling ministry of waiting 
angels.” 

But if regard for their blessed guardians 
forbids us to show contempt for the little 
ones, surely our interest in their spiritual 


THE HOLY ANGELS 145 

and physical welfare, whether proceeding 
from general motives or from some particu¬ 
lar relationship which binds us to them, may 
well prompt us to pray often for them to their 
guardian angels, and to recommend them 
earnestly to those powerful protectors, whom 
God himself has charged to watch over them, 
and to keep them in all their ways. Parents 
and teachers who adopted this practice, would 
doubtless quickly see the effect of their 
prayers in the greater docility of the children, 
and their more rapid progress in knowledge 
and in virtue. 

For ourselves, too, devotion to our guard¬ 
ian angels cannot fail to be the source of 
many heavenly favors, but it should espe¬ 
cially insure to us the possession of three 
precious gifts which are strikingly charac¬ 
teristic of the holy angels. The first is that 
of walking constantly in the presence of God. 
Never for a moment are they distracted from 
it. They are not allured by the pleasures 


146 THE HOLY ANGELS 

of the world, they are not disturbed by the din 
and tumult of human passions. Their gaze 
is ever riveted on the face of their Creator, 
and their mind is absorbed in the contempla¬ 
tion of His unspeakable beauty. 

The second treasure which this devotion 
should secure us, is a true spirit of obedience. 
The angels are ever ready at God’s beck, and 
the accomplishment of His will is their great¬ 
est joy. They will gladly ask for us a like 
devotedness, and the habitual proposing to 
ourselves of their example will be a power¬ 
ful incentive to us to endeavor to imitate 
them. 

Lastly, the pearl of the virtues, holy purity, 
will be safe under their protection. It is 
called the angelic virtue, and the angels are 
eager to see us become by its practice most 
like unto themselves. The struggle is a hard 
one—in some cases it is fierce and unremit¬ 
ting—but by the grace of God and the assist¬ 
ance of our good angel, whom we should 




THE HOLY ANGELS 147 

lovingly invoke while the combat lasts, the 
victory will be ours, and what a glorious vic¬ 
tory it will be! To have overcome in our 
frail flesh and in spite of the treachery of the 
flesh, which is arrayed with the demons 
against us, all the wiles and malice of our 
wicked foe, and to have kept intact amid 
the most violent assaults the priceless heritage 
which we carry in vessels of clay—that, to 
be sure, is a triumph to which we may holily 
and wholesomely aspire, and for which we 
shall remain forever indebted to the encour¬ 
agement and support given to us in the con¬ 
flict by our ever-loving, ever-faithful guard¬ 
ian angel. 

CHAPTER XXIX 

Angels’ Names 

F IR most of us, knowledge of a person 
that does not include knowledge of his 
name, is hardly more than half knowledge. 
There may be little in a name, especially as 


148 THE HOLY ANGELS 

names are usually given without reference to 
personal qualities and endowments, and 
merely as labels, so to say, to distinguish one 
person from another. Yet even so, a name 
has often associations of a hallowed or patri¬ 
otic, a literary or historical nature, and when 
the name is recalled, all these are conjured 
up, so that the name serves as an epitome of 
the person’s life and character. That is why 
some names possess such magic power, elec¬ 
trifying vast assemblies and stirring men’s 
souls to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, or 
nerving them to deeds of bravery and hero¬ 
ism. 

And it is not we alone who set such store 
by names. For God himself would seem to 
attach great importance to them. He it was 
who, in the beginning, gave their names to 
the sea and to the land, and who brought all 
the beasts of the earth and all the fowl of 
the air to Adam, to see what he would call 
them. He again it was who changed the 


THE HOLY ANGELS 149 

name of Abram to Abraham, and of Jacob 
to Israel; who dictated the name of the Pre¬ 
cursor of Our Lord, and bestowed on the Re¬ 
deemer of mankind the thrice holy Name of 
Jesus. He has been pleased, too, to reveal 
to us His own incommunicable Name. For 
to Moses, who asked of Him His name, 
He replied: “I am who am.” And when 
Moses declared his mission to the people of 
Israel, he was to say to them, “He that is 
hath sent me to you.” 

Who then will find fault with us, if we 
crave to know the names of the holy angels? 
Who will take from our joy in the few that 
we know, by telling us that they are not really 
names of those glorious spirits at all, being, 
forsooth, a mere description of their char¬ 
acter or special attributes? As if it were 
not a common thing originally for a name 
to be given to a person by reason of some 
similar appropriateness! Rather, such are 
the best sort of names. 


150 THE HOLY ANGELS 

But alas! it has not seemed good to the 
Lord of all things to reveal to us more than 
three names among all those which are borne 
by the countless myriads of the angelic host. 
To greet each angel by his name, and to en¬ 
joy that familiarity with the blessed spirits 
which this implies, is a happiness reserved 
for us in our heavenly home. 

Meanwhile, we must be content to have 
been taught the names of Michael, Gabriel 
and Raphael, and gratefully invoke them 
again and again. Others we meet with in 
fiction and in poetry, and that of Uriel we find 
in the apocryphal third book of Esdras, 
• which, however, lacks the divine authority 
of the inspired writings. So the name of 
Victor is assigned as that of the angel who 
was wont to visit and instruct St. Patrick, and 
still others might be culled from the lives of 
the saints, but for none of them could we 
have the certainty which is afforded by divine 
revelation. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 151 

On the contrary, Michael, Gabriel and 
Raphael are names which are found in Holy 
Scripture, and which have ever been held 
in veneration in the Church of God. They 
are invoked in the Litany of the Saints 
after the name of the Queen of Angels, 
and before all the rest of the blessed. St. 
Michael is exceptionally honored by a two¬ 
fold feast, one in May, the other in Septem¬ 
ber; while St. Gabriel and St. Raphael, whose 
festivals have hitherto been kept only in 
particular localities and by special privilege, 
are henceforth to be glorified by having their 
Mass and Office extended to the Universal 
Church. 

CHAPTER XXX 
Saint Michael 

IN THE CHURCH 

T HE Church of Christ has ever paid 
special honor to the glorious Arch¬ 
angel Michael, whom in her liturgy she hails 


152 THE HOLY ANGELS 

“Prince of the heavenly host.’ His name is 
the war cry with which, in the primeval 
mighty battle, he smote the proud followers 
of Lucifer and their chief, and cast them 
down out of heaven into the depth of the pit. 
“I will ascend into heaven,” was the boast of 
the rebel angel; “I will exalt my throne above 
the stars of God,—I will be like the most 
High.” (Is. xiv, 13-14 ) But as a flash of 
lightning came the challenge: “Who is like 
God?” and the faithful angels, with Michael 
at their head, grappled with the rebellious 
hosts and prevailed against them, so that 
their place was no longer found in heaven. 

That battle is still waged here in this 
world. The Church of God is the object of 
constant and violent assaults on the part of 
the powers of darkness, but the holy angels 
are arrayed on her side, and Michael is ever 
at hand to champion her cause against the 
fury of her envenomed foes, and to conduct 
her to a glorious victory. He is the guardian 


THE HOLY ANGELS 153 

and protector of the Church, as he was 
formerly of the Synagogue, “your prince,” as 
the angel who spoke to Daniel called him, 
and “Michael, the great prince, who standeth 
for the children of thy people.” {Dan. xii , 
1 ) No harm can come to them so long as 
he, “standard-bearer of salvation,” stands as 
a firm and impregnable wall against the fierc¬ 
est attacks of Satan. Michael vanquished 
Lucifer once for all in the dim and distant 
ages, and the verdict of that battle will never 
be reversed. 

The Church commends her children to the 
great Archangel in life and more particularly, 
in death. “Defend us in the conflict,” she 
cries out to him, “that we may not perish in 
the awful judgment.” And as the crisis in 
the combat approaches, and the departing 
soul is at the last grips with the foe, she prays 
that “St. Michael, the Archangel of God who 
has deserved to be the Prince of the heavenly 
host,” may admit her child to the kingdom of 


154 THE HOLY ANGELS 

heaven, and that all the holy angels of God 
may come to meet him, and conduct him to 
the heavenly city, Jerusalem. 

So too, after death, the solicitude of holy 
Mother Church still follows her dear ones, 
and again she asks the intervention of the 
Archangel Michael in their behalf. Her 
prayer occurs in the strikingly beautiful Of¬ 
fertory of the Mass for the Dead: “0 Lord 
Jesus Christ, King of glory,” she prays, “de¬ 
liver the souls of all the faithful departed 
from the pains of hell and from the deep pit. 
Deliver them from the lion’s mouth; let not 
tartarus swallow them up; let them not fall 
into the darkness, but let St. Michael, the 
standard-bearer, introduce them to the holy 
light, which Thou didst promise of old to 
Abraham and to his seed.” 

Nor is this the only mention of St. Michael 
that is found in the Mass. Every time the 
Holy Sacrifice is offered, the priest in the 
general confession which he makes at the foot 


THE HOLY ANGELS 155 

of the altar, and the people after him, twice 
invoke the intercession of the great Arch¬ 
angel, and the people do the same once more 
as the moment of the Holy Communion draws 
nigh. Again, in the solemn Mass, when the 
incense is blessed at the Offertory, the cele¬ 
brant prays that “through the intercession of 
Blessed Michael the Archangel, standing at 
the right of the altar of incense, the Lord 
may deign to bless the incense, and receive 
it in an odor of sweetness.” 

For many years, too, we have been offer¬ 
ing after every low Mass a special prayer to 
St. Michael for his powerful assistance 
against the arch-enemy of our souls, and there 
occurs in it a phrase, “Rebuke him, 0 God,” 
which, while it comes in with a certain abrupt¬ 
ness, is yet particularly forcible as contain¬ 
ing a direct allusion to the victory of the 
Archangel over Satan in the famous en¬ 
counter. For, as St. Jude in his Epistle (v, 
9) reminds us, “when Michael the Archangel, 


156 THE HOLY ANGELS 

disputing with the devil, contended about the 
body of Moses, he durst not bring against him 
the judgment of railing speech, but said: 
The Lord command thee.’ ” 

The incident to which the apostle refers 
is not found elsewhere in Holy Writ, but 
must have been known by revelation, and 
handed on by tradition, or through some in¬ 
spired writing long since lost. It is thought 

that the occasion was this: after the death of 

\ 

the great law-giver, the devil would have had 
him buried where the Jews might come in 
crowds to pay homage to his remains, hoping 
thereby to seduce them to idolatry. But the 
Archangel Michael, knowing their proclivity 
to this sin, sought to prevent it by laying the 
body in some secret resting-place. And yet 
with that modesty and meekness which so be¬ 
fits the truly great, he would not revile Satan 
for his resistance, but appealed to God to 
coerce him by His power. Not, to be sure, 
that the Archangel feared the devil, whom he 


THE HOLY ANGELS 157 

might himself easily have restrained, but that 
he judged it an unbefitting thing to wrangle 
with the evil one, or by stinging words to re¬ 
buke his pride and malice. 

One of the two festivals which the Church 
keeps in honor of St. Michael, that of the 
eighth of May, is celebrated in memory of an 
apparition of the Archangel, which took place 
on Monte Gargano, in the southeastern part 
of Italy, in the province of Foggia, and in 
what is called “the spur,” where a mountain¬ 
ous promontory juts out into the Adriatic Sea. 
The Archangel made known to the Bishop of 
Sipontum, now Manfredonia, in whose dio¬ 
cese the Mount is situated, that the spot was 
under his protection, and the Bishop, in con¬ 
sequence, came there with a throng of people, 
and finding a cave in the mountain-side, hol¬ 
lowed out in the shape of a church, began to 
use it as a place of religious service, until it 
grew to be a famous and much frequented 
shrine of the Archangel. 


158 THE HOLY ANGELS 

About a century later, that is, A. D. 589, 
after an inundation of the Tiber, the city of 
Rome was visited with a frightful pestilence. 
In the following year, Gregory the Great, then 
Pope, was leading a penitential procession to 
St. Peter’s, to obtain the cessation of the 
plague, bearing in his hands at the time, a 
picture of our Blessed Lady, when he came 
to the Aelian bridge which connected the tomb 
of Hadrian with the city, and as he raised 
his eyes toward that massive structure, he be¬ 
held on its summit an angel sheathing a 
bloody sword, while a chorus of angels round 
about chanted the anthem, Regina coeli — 
“Queen of heaven, rejoice! He whom thou 
wast meet to bear, hath arisen as He said. Al¬ 
leluia!” To which the Pope responded: 
“Pray for us to God, Alleluia!” 

A moment before, the people had been 
dropping to the ground, even at the side of 
the Holy Pontiff, but now the plague was at 
an end, and in commemoration of the event, 



THE HOLY ANGELS 159 

a shrine was erected on the top of the mau¬ 
soleum by Boniface IV, successor to St. Greg¬ 
ory, and dedicated to St. Michael. Later the 
shrine was replaced by a statue, many times 
destroyed, and as often renewed, and the 
Moles Hadriani acquired the name of the 
Castle of Sant’ Angelo, while the bridge was 
called Ponte S. Angelo. 

It was the great Archangel St. Michael 
also who spoke to the simple peasant girl, 
Jeanne d’Arc, when she was but a child of 
thirteen years, and whose voice summoned 
her from her flocks to the command of armies. 
His was one of the “voices” which she heard 
repeatedly, but he did not come alone. He 
was accompanied by a troop of angels, and 
she saw them, as she told her judges, as 
plainly as her eyes then beheld her hearers. 
At first she was seized with fear, but later, 
as often as her heavenly visitors departed 
from her, she used to weep and pray that they 
might carry her away with them. 


160 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


CHAPTER XXXI 
Saint Michael 

AMID THE ANGELIC HOSTS 

I N the preceding chapter we saw how Holy 
Church gives to the Archangel Michael 
the highest place among the blessed spirits. 
For she calls him “Chief (or Prince) of the 
heavenly army,” and this she does while cele¬ 
brating a feast in honor of all the holy angels. 
It would seem, then, an obvious inference 
that she regards him simply as the first and 
foremost of the whole heavenly host, nor 
does there appear at first blush any reason 
for not accepting the inference. 

And yet if we recall what was said in Chap¬ 
ter XXIII about the two classes of angels— 
those who assist, and those who serve—we 
shall see that a serious difficulty arises for 
whoever admits this distinction. For St. 
Michael, whom the Church honors, is the 



THE HOLY ANGELS 161 

guardian of the Church, as he was formerly 
of the Synagogue, and is often sent to earth 
in the interest of the Church and of souls. 
But the three highest choirs of the angels are 
never sent, nor are they occupied with ex¬ 
terior things, but are ever absorbed in the 
contemplation of God, from whose presence 
they never go forth. 

Hence St. Thomas and others would have 
it that St. Michael belongs to the choir of 
principalities, or possibly to that of the arch¬ 
angels. And Suarez deems it likely that he 
is the first and highest of the principalities, 
who precede in dignity the angels and arch¬ 
angels, and have care of provinces and king¬ 
doms. And because these glorious spirits 
take the leading part in the warfare between 
the good and bad angels, which is continued 
here below for the welfare or the ruin of the 
human race, they are chiefly meant when it 
is said that “Michael and his angels fought 
with the dragon.” 


162 THE HOLY ANGELS 

Yet Suarez, endeavoring to reconcile this 
view with what would appear to be the com¬ 
mon opinion of the faithful, distinguishes be¬ 
tween the immediate guardian of the Church 
and of the Synagogue, who has often been 
sent, and is still sent, on various missions for 
the advantage of God’s people, and that other 
glorious angel who first sounded the war-cry, 
“Who is like God?” and led the hosts of 
faithful angels against Lucifer and his fol¬ 
lowers in the battle which was fought in 
heaven from the beginning, and ended in the 
utter rout of the enemies of God. 

In this conflict all the angels were engaged, 
even those of the most exalted choirs, because 
their own interests and the divine honor were 
at stake. The ranks, too, of the fallen 
angels would seem to have been recruited 
largely from the higher orders, if we may 
argue from St. Paul’s words. ( Eph . vi) 
The prime leader, then, of the angels who re¬ 
mained loyal to their Maker, must surely 


THE HOLY ANGELS 163 

have been of the highest of the seraphim, even 
as Lucifer, the rebel chief, was one of the 
highest, if not the very highest, of all the 
angels. 

It is not possible to speak more precisely 
or more definitely on this point. We can¬ 
not be sure that any one particular angel was 
positively highest, as there may have been 
several individuals equally endowed. This, 
of course, is on the supposition that the 
angels do not all differ specifically. For if 
they do, then the angel of the highest species 
will also be the highest of the angels, there 
being no other to share his specific perfection. 
If, on the contrary, the highest species of the 
seraphim •comprises two or more individuals, 
these may be equally gifted, and it may be 
that none is higher or more perfect than his 
fellows. 

In this case, Michael, the zealous champion 
of the honor of the Most High, while in na¬ 
tural gifts inferior neither to Lucifer, nor to 


164 THE HOLY ANGELS 

any of the other seraphim, may in point of 
merit, and by reason of his zeal, be superior 
to all the rest. Nor will it be inconsistent 
with his exalted rank to discharge the office 
of guardian and protector of the Church, 
which we associate with his name, if we say 
that its functions are exercised by that glori¬ 
ous Archangel, not directly by himself, but 
indirectly and under his high command, 
through the ministry of the lower angels. 

To him we may confidently appeal in our 
own private struggles with the powers of evil, 
and still more in behalf of the Church in that 
bitter warfare which the spirits of darkness 
cease not to wage against her. If we are de¬ 
voted to him in life, he will come to receive 
our souls in death, and to admit us to our 
heavenly home. For God has delivered to 
him the souls of all the saints, that he may 
conduct them to the paradise of exultant joy. 
He is God’s ambassador for the souls of the 


THE HOLY ANGELS 165 

just—“Michael, marshal of paradise, whom 
the fellow-citizens of the angels honor.” 

CHAPTER XXXII 
The Angel Gabriel 

I N the Collect of the Mass which is ap¬ 
pointed to be read on the feast of the 
Archangel Gabriel, Holy Church calls at¬ 
tention to the choice which God made of this 
glorious spirit, in preference to all the other 
angels, to announce the great mystery of the 
Incarnation. And certainly it was a singular 
privilege. 

God has indeed sent His angels with mes¬ 
sages to men on many notable occasions, but 
when, in the whole course of the ages, was 
there an embassy like that, whose purpose 
was to declare to the world that the blessed 
fulness of time had come at last, and that 
God’s own Son was about to take to Himself 


166 THE HOLY ANGELS 

our human nature, and to begin the work of 
our redemption? Or when was there any 
one so worthy of a message from on high as 
she who was full of grace, and blessed among 
women, and who had been chosen to be the 
Mother of God, and the future Queen of 
Heaven? 

Is it not then most natural to conclude that 
Gabriel, the bearer of the joyful tidings, 
must have been one of the mightiest and most 
glorious of all the blessed angels? Else why 
should he have been chosen for so sublime a 
mission, rather than others worthier than 
he? 

His name is interpreted the “strength of 
God,” and hence it was most appropriate that 
the announcement of the accomplishment of 
our redemption through the mystery of the 
Word made flesh should come through him. 
For the Incarnate Word, Christ Jesus, is also 
the power of God, as well as the wisdom of 
God, according to the apostle, though, of 


THE HOLY ANGELS 167 

course, in a higher and fuller sense, than any, 
even the loftiest, of His creatures. 

We are not told that it was the Angel Ga¬ 
briel who appeared in sleep to Joseph, and 
quieted his doubts about his virgin spouse, 
though this seems most likely, but on the 
other hand, we know that it was he who fore¬ 
told to Zachary the birth of the Baptist, and 
revealed the name whereby the latter was to 
be called, and took from Zachary for a time 
the power of speech, because he had dis¬ 
trusted his word instead of accepting it with 
ready faith. 

Again, it was the same glorious archangel 
who, some five centuries previously, had pre¬ 
dicted to Daniel the precise time of the com¬ 
ing of the Saviour of mankind. Thus we see 
the Angel Gabriel closely associated with the 
great and consoling mystery of the Incarna¬ 
tion of the Son of God—a fact, surely, which 
ought greatly to endear him to the hearts of 
us all, while our devotion to him should have 


168 THE HOLY ANGELS 

the effect of making us grow more and more 
in the knowledge and love of our Divine Re¬ 
deemer. 

And who among the blessed spirits is hon¬ 
ored in the Church of Christ as is the Angel 
Gabriel? We learn to lisp his words at our 
mother’s knee; for the prayer which is dear¬ 
est to us after the Our Father and which, 
along with it, our lips are taught to utter even 
ere the light of reason dawns, is made up 
chiefly of the words spoken by the Angel Ga¬ 
briel to Mary. It is also the dearest to 
Mary’s heart, reminding her, as it does, of 
that delightful interview with the Archangel, 
which brought such joy, with ineffable glory, 
to her, and such plenitude of salvation to us. 

What delight, what accidental glory must 
come to the chosen spirit who, as God’s am¬ 
bassador, first addressed those words of greet¬ 
ing to the ever blessed Virgin, when he hears 
his salutation repeated not only again and 
again in the liturgy of the Church, but mil- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 169 

lions upon millions of times every day by the 
simple faithful everywhere throughout the 
wide, wide world! We cannot honor Mary 
by devoutly reciting the prayer that is most 
pleasing to her, without at the same time 
honoring the glorious Archangel, who was 
God’s instrument in her exaltation. 

There is, moreover, a familiar form of 
prayer, which is called the Angelus because 
in Latin it begins with that word, and which 
is recited by all devout Christians morning, 
noon and night, in memory of the mystery of 
our Lord’s Incarnation and Mary’s part in it. 
It consists of three Hail Marys each in¬ 
troduced by a versicle and response, and the 
whole is usually concluded by the prayer, 
“Pour forth, we beseech thee,” etc. 

This form of prayer, beginning with men¬ 
tion of the angel who brought the glad tidings 
to Mary, ends with a further allusion to him 
and to his message, and the second versicle 
and response contain Mary’s reply, addressed 


170 THE HOLY ANGELS 

by her to the angel, who is, of course, the 
Archangel Gabriel. 

It is hard to persuade oneself that this 
glorious being, so singularly honored by Al¬ 
mighty God, can belong to any but the high¬ 
est order of blessed spirits, that is, the sera¬ 
phim. And in fact he is ranked among them 
by eminent theologians, some even contend¬ 
ing that he is the highest of all, although this 
runs counter to the common view, which as¬ 
signs the most exalted place to Michael and 
acclaims him Prince of the heavenly host. 

There are those, on the other hand, who 
hold strictly to the theory that the highest 
orders are made up of assisting angels, who 
are never sent on errands to mankind. 
Hence they infer that Gabriel, who was sent to 
Daniel, to Zachary, and to Mary, must be one 
of the inferior or ministering angels, among 
whom they are willing to grant him a lofty 
place, some reckoning him to be one of the 


THE HOLY ANGELS 171 

archangels, others, one of the principalities, 
and perhaps the chief of these. 

This view is held by theologians of the 
greatest repute, such as St. Gregory, St. 
Thomas, St. Bonaventure, Suarez, etc. But 
there are others of scarcely less renown who 
maintain the opposite opinion, as for in¬ 
stance, the Master of the Sentences, Duns 
Scotus, Durandus, Gregory de Valencia, Mo¬ 
lina and Salmeron. St. Bernard, too, al¬ 
though elsewhere he expresses himself other¬ 
wise, in commenting on the gospel narrative 
of the Annunciation, puts it forward as his 
opinion that Gabriel is not one of the lesser 
angels, and he argues to this effect from his 
name, which means, as we have already re¬ 
marked, “the strength of God,” or something 
similar, and from the fact that he is sent 
directly by God Himself, and not through a 
higher angel acting as intermediary. It was 
his own excellence, St. Bernard thinks, that 


172 THE HOLY ANGELS 

won for him both the name he bears, and the 
office that was entrusted to him. 

And surely, as St. Gregory himself ob¬ 
serves, “it was but proper that for this min¬ 
istry the highest angel should come, seeing 
that he brought tidings of the greatest of all 
events.” 

Cornelius a Lapide, one of the leading com¬ 
mentators on Holy Scripture, argues at 
some length in his exposition of Daniel ix, 
22 to show that Gabriel belongs to the or¬ 
der of the seraphim and is one of the fore¬ 
most princes of the heavenly court. He cites, 
without fully assenting to them, the eight 
proofs, or rather congruities, adduced by 
Cardinal Mark Viguier in support of his con¬ 
tention that Gabriel is the first and highest of 
all the angels. 

One of these is the apparent impossibility 
of the Incarnation, rendering it desirable, if 
not imperative, that the dignity and authority 
of the messenger announcing it, should be 


THE HOLY ANGELS 173 

such as to gain for it a readier credence. 
Another is derived from the angel’s name. 
“Gabriel” means “the strength of God,” or 
“God hath strengthened me,” “God is my 
strength.” He is, then, the mightiest and the 
foremost of the angels: between him and God 
there is no intermediary. Finally, to pass 
over the other proofs, the Cardinal sums up 
his whole argument as follows: It was 
proper that for the greatest of God’s works, 
the greatest angel should be sent. But the 
Incarnation is the greatest of God’s works. 
Therefore Gabriel, who was sent to announce 
it, is the greatest of the angels. 

As Cornelius a Lapide observes, however, 
a king does not always send his chief noble 
on an embassy to pope or emperor, but at 
times contents himself with despatching one 
of the highest rank, even though not the very 
highest. 

Hence, without claiming for the Angel Ga¬ 
briel the supremacy among all the blessed 


174 THE HOLY ANGELS 

spirits, we incline very strongly to the opinion 
that he is one of the highest of their number. 
And in support of this view, we shall add just 
one more argument to those already adduced. 
It is drawn from the unrivalled merit of the 
lowly Virgin to whom he came as an ambas¬ 
sador from God. 

For if, over and above the extraordinary 
nature of the message of which the angel 
was the bearer, we consider the person of her 
to whom he bore the wondrous tidings; if we 
reflect that he was to deliver the message of 
the Most High to the most cherished of God’s 
creatures, who far surpassed in grace and 
dignity all the orders of blessed spirits, it 
does indeed seem that we must, perforce, rate 
very high among the ranks of the most exalted 
of the seraphim, that privileged being whom 
God thus singled out for so enviable a distinc¬ 
tion. 

In concluding this chapter, it will not be 
out of place to recall the words of one of the 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


175 


hymns of the Church in praise of the glorious 
archangels. There is something grandiose 
both in the language itself and in the picture 
which it suggests. For whatever precisely 
may be the allusion in the lines: 

Angelas fortis Gabriel , at hostes 
Pellat antiquos, et arnica coelo 
Quae triumphator statuit per or bent 

Templa revisat; 

there can be no doubt that there is a grandeur 
and sublimity in the image of the angel com¬ 
ing to revisit the temples which, with the ap¬ 
proval of heaven, he, like a conquering hero, 
has set up everywhere throughout the world. 


CHAPTER XXXIII 
The Angel Raphael 


W ERE the story of the Angel Raphael 
and Tobias, as recorded in Holy 
Writ, a mere bit of beautiful fiction it would 
still delight and charm us as few other stories 


176 THE HOLY ANGELS 

are capable of doing. The singular upright¬ 
ness of the elder Tobias, his never-failing 
patience and heroic constancy, enlist at once 
our affection and sympathy, while the fret¬ 
fulness of his wife serves as a foil to throw 
his virtue into a strong and pleasing relief. 

On the contrary, the transparent candor 
and simplicity of the younger Tobias, a re¬ 
flex of his own thoroughly virtuous soul, 
make him worthy of association with the 
heavenly spirits, and thus dispose our minds 
for the extraordinary familiarity which he 
enjoys with one of their number during a 
protracted period of several weeks, as it 
would seem, and for the miraculous inter¬ 
vention of the angel in his own and his 
father’s behalf. 

The preternatural, which exercises so great 
a spell over the human mind and which is so 
eagerly sought after, whether by lawful or 
unlawful means, is here present at every step, 
and the being around whom it centers is 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


177 


withal of so attractive a personality and so 
singularly human, that we are at once sweetly 
and powerfully drawn to listen to the lessons 
of virtue which he inculcates, if so perchance 
we too may one day share the blessed com- ' 
panionship of the angels. 

Tobias was of the number of the Israelites 
whom the Assyrian King Salmanasar led cap¬ 
tive out of Galilee to Ninive, capital of As¬ 
syria, some seven centuries before the com¬ 
ing of Our Lord. From his boyhood he had 
given to his countrymen the example of a 
most edifying life, and had refused to be 
drawn with them into the sin of idolatry, re¬ 
maining ever faithful to the law of his fathers 
and the worship of the true God. 

And God recompensed his fidelity by grant¬ 
ing him to find favor with Salmanasar, the 
king, who allowed him to go wherever he 
would among his fellow-captives and to do 
as he desired. In this way he was able to 
render great services to his people in the hour 


178 THE HOLY ANGELS 

of their trial, and especially to give them 
many wholesome admonitions. 

This he continued to do, even at the im¬ 
minent risk of his life, during the reign of 
Sennacherib, son and successor of Salmana- 
sar, who was filled with hatred towards the 
Israelites and slew many of them, especially 
after his inglorious retreat from Judea, where 
an angel of the Lord destroyed his whole 
army of a hundred and eighty-five thousand 
in a single night. 

Tobias did all he could to relieve his fel¬ 
low-countrymen in their sore distress, visit¬ 
ing them, consoling them and supplying their 
needs. But it was particularly by his zeal 
and charity in burying their dead, that he 
roused the ire of the King, and it was on a 
certain day when he had come home wearied 
out with labor of the kind and had thrown 
himself down to sleep by the wall of the 
house, that hot dung falling into his eyes 


THE HOLY ANGELS 179 

from a swallow’s nest, deprived him of his 
sight. 

It was a trial of his patience permitted by 
God, like the trials of holy Job, and Tobias 
proved himself similarly faithful in spite of 
the mockery he had to put up witn from his 
kinsmen. Nevertheless he prayed God, if it 
were pleasing to Him, to deliver him by tak¬ 
ing him out of this world, and confident that 
God had heard his prayer, he prepared to 
send his son to the distant city of Rages to 
collect a big debt that was owed him by a man 
of his tribe, named Gabelus. 

At the very same time, a virtuous young 
woman of the name of Sara, a near relative 
of Tobias, had just been grossly and wan¬ 
tonly insulted by one of her father’s servant- 
maids, and she was pouring forth her prayer 
in the bitterness of her soul to Him who com¬ 
forts the afflicted and is ever disposed to suc¬ 
cor those who seek His aid in a spirit of 


180 THE HOLY ANGELS 

humble trustfulness. “And the holy angel 
of the Lord, Raphael, was sent to heal them 
both, whose prayers at one time were re¬ 
hearsed in the sight of the Lord.” ( Tob . iii 9 
25 ) 

Scarcely then had the younger Tobias 
crossed the threshold of his father’s house, in 
search of some one who could conduct him 
to Rages where Gabelus dwelt, when the An¬ 
gel Raphael, disguised as a youth of attrac¬ 
tive appearance and clad as for a journey, 
presented himself and offered to be his guide 
to the city of Medes, with which, he said, he 
was thoroughly familiar. Tobias, who was 
overjoyed at his good fortune, after hastily 
consulting his father, introduced to him the 
youth, who wished him joy, assured him of 
his speedy cure and promised him to conduct 
his son safely on his journey to and fro. 
Then to relieve the father’s anxiety as to the 
family to which he belonged, he described 
himself as “Azarias, the son of the great Ana- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


181 


nias,” and with a prayer from Tobias that 
God might be with them in their way and that 
His angel might accompany them, he and the 
younger Tobias departed. It was this con¬ 
fidence that his son was under the protection 
of an ange'l that reconciled Tobias to his ab¬ 
sence and enabled him to quiet the misgivings 
and murmuring of his wife. 

The very first night, the angel delivered his 
youthful comrade from a monstrous fish 
which came to devour him, and bade him set 
aside certain parts of its entrails as useful 
remedies. The smoke from a bit of the heart 
broiled over the coals was to be used to hum¬ 
ble the pride of the demon, whom the angel 
was to bind, and the gall was to anoint the 
eyes of the elder Tobias and to restore to him 
his sight. 

At night, the two travellers lodged at the 
house of Raguel, father of Sara, and upon the 
advice of the angel, Tobias asked and re¬ 
ceived the maiden’s hand, the angel assuring 




4 


182 THE HOLY ANGELS 

Raguel that he might safely give her to him, 
as God had destined her to be his wife, for 
which reason also it had fared so ill with all 
her previous suitors. And so the marriage 
was celebrated with great joy and gladness, 
Raguel inviting all his friends and neighbors 
to the wedding-feast. 

It is at this point that an incident occurred, 
which reveals the wonderful condescension of 
the Angel Raphael. Raguel was insistent 
with Tobias that he should spend two weeks 
with him before departing for his home. 
Tobias, to comply with his earnest wish with¬ 
out increasing the anxiety of his parents at 
his absence, made bold to ask his devoted 
friend to go himself to Rages and restore the 
note of hand to Gabelus and secure from him 
the money which he owed. And although 
Tobias would have gasped at his own temer¬ 
ity, had he realized the full significance of his 
request, the angel readily agreed to the pro¬ 
posal, and set out with four servants for the 


THE HOLY ANGELS 183 

city of Medes, where he received all the 
money from Gabelus, and made him come 
with him to the wedding. 

When the marriage-feast had been cele¬ 
brated with great rejoicing, and with the fear 
of the Lord, Tobias and his wife, with all 
their household and the rich possessions which 
Raguel had given as Sara’s dowry, set out 
on their way to Ninive, the angel still accom¬ 
panying them. But after some days, the lat¬ 
ter suggested that he and Tobias should go on 
before, leaving Sara and the rest to follow 
leisurely behind, and he bade Tobias bring 
with him a portion of the gall of the fish, 
which he had laid aside in the early part of 
his journey, as it would be needed on their 
return. 

It is truly pathetic to see the mother of 
Tobias sitting day after day by the roadside 
at the top of a hill which accorded a command¬ 
ing view, and watching for the coming of her 
son, until at last she spies him from afar, 


184 THE HOLY ANGELS 

and runs to bring the good tidings to her hus¬ 
band; and then to see the latter rise quickly 
and with the aid of a servant, hasten stum¬ 
bling to meet his son. There is a touch of 
nature, too, in the account of the dog, which 
had accompanied his young master, and 
which now ran on before, as if bringing the 
news, and showing his joy by fawning and 
wagging his tail. 

With touching modesty, the angel remains 
in the background, as if not to intrude upon 
the tender intimacies of the meeting between 
parents and son, nor is it he who anoints the 
father’s eyes with the gall of the fish and re¬ 
stores to him his sight. When the eyes of 
the elder Tobias once more behold the light, 
they shall rest first on his own dearly loved 
son. 

And now for seven days the veil is drawn, 
and we know nothing of what passed between 
the angel and the happy family that was so 
blessed with his company. Again when Sara 


THE HOLY ANGELS 185 

and all the household have arrived in safety, 
still another seven days are spent in feasting 
and great joy, and during all this time there 
is no suspicion on the part of Tobias and the 
rest that their so signal benefactor is anything 
more than a virtuous, nobly-bred, discreet, 
and most delightful human friend. 

But at last the time had come when they 
must part, and father and son agreed that 
nothing that they could offer him would be a 
satisfactory compensation for all that he had 
done for them. Nevertheless, they called 
him aside, and begged him to accept for him¬ 
self the half of all the wealth that had been 
brought. Then it was that the angel, if not 
with radiant features, at least with voice en¬ 
kindled, and with words that burned with a 
celestial fire, broke forth in praise of prayer 
and fasting and almsdeeds, and told the won¬ 
dering Tobias how when he had prayed with 
tears, and had left his dinner untouched, and 
had concealed the dead by day in his house, 


186 THE HOLY ANGELS 

and had buried them at night, he, the Angel 
Raphael, had offered his prayer to the Lord. 

He would not accept of any earthly recom¬ 
pense. For first, it was not he to whom 
Tobias was indebted, but to the Lord who had 
sent him, and besides the presence of God’s 
majesty made him rich enough. “For,” said 
he, “I am the Angel Raphael, one of the seven 
who stand before the throne.” ( Tob . xii, 15) 

No wonder that Tobias and his son were 
seized with fear at these words, and that “they 
fell upon the ground on their face.” To 
think that they had hired an angel of the Lord 
to wait upon them, and had ventured to ap¬ 
praise his services as though he had been but 
a human workman! But the angel reassured 
them. While he was with them, he had been 
there by the will of God. They should there¬ 
fore bless Him and sing His praises. He 
had seemed to eat and drink with them, but 
in reality, his food and drink were of a 
kind that could not be seen by men. And 


THE HOLY ANGELS 187 

now it was time for him to return to the 
Lord who had sent him, while their duty 
would be to bless Him forever, and to publish 
all His wonderful works. 

Then the angel disappeared, and for three 
hours Tobias and his son lay prostrate on the 
ground, blessing God, after which they arose, 
and made known His merciful dealings with 
them. 

It is clear from the marvelous story, of 
which the above is an abridgment, why the 
Angel Raphael is the protector of travelers 
and pilgrims, and as such is specially invoked 
in the “Itinerary” of the clergy. 

It is also evident why he is regarded as 
the particular patron of the sick, and hence 
of hospitals and similar institutions. His 
name itself, which signifies the “medicine of 
God” and expresses, no doubt, the special gift 
he has received from God, or the special mis¬ 
sion confided to him by God, would seem 
clearly to designate him for that office. And 


188 THE HOLY ANGELS 

then there is the cure of Tobias’ blindness, 
which shows that the name of the angel is no 
meaningless one, but that he is in reality a 
heavenly physician, ready to use his healing 
power for the advantage of mankind. How 
appropriate it would be, if Catholic physi¬ 
cians should take him for the patron of their 
art, and instead of this or that heathen design, 
would select a statue or other representation 
of the Angel Raphael as a fitting adornment 
of their homes. 

The Angel Raphael is also the angel of 
thanksgiving. He insisted with Tobias and 
his son upon the duty of praising and bless¬ 
ing God for His great mercies, and of pub¬ 
lishing His wonderful works. He would not 
accept as due to himself even the recompense 
of thanks, and bade them refer all to God, 
of whom he was only the agent. That spirit 
of loving thankfulness is one of the particular 
graces which he obtains for his devoted cli¬ 
ents, nor is it of slight advantage to us, as 


THE HOLY ANGELS 189 


through it we are sure to grow in the love of 
God and in intimate union with Him. 

CHAPTER XXXIV 
The Seven before the Throne 
HE Angel Raphael, in revealing him¬ 



self to Tobias and his son, said, “I am 
the Angel Raphael, one of the seven who 
stand before the throne.” And the Angel 
Gabriel, when he addressed Zachary, the 
father of St. John the Baptist, said, “I am 
Gabriel, who stand before the Lord,” imply¬ 
ing, it would seem, that he too, is one of the 
same privileged group. For it would appear 
to be fairly certain that there is not question 
here of the whole multitude of the angels, and 
that the number seven is not in this case a 
mere symbol of universality. 

Mention of the seven occurs also in sev¬ 
eral passages of the Apocalypse. We read: 
“Grace be unto you and peace from him that 


190 THE HOLY ANGELS 

is, and that was, and that is to come, and 
from the seven spirits which are before his 
throne. . . ( Apoc. i, 4) 

And again, “there were seven lamps burn¬ 
ing before the throne, which are the seven 
spirits of God.” {Apoc. iv, 5) “And behold 
in the midst of the throne ... a Lamb 
standing as it were slain, having seven horns 
and seven eyes: which are the seven spirits 
of God, sent forth into all the earth.” {Apoc. 
v, 6) And finally the apostle says: “And 
I saw seven angels standing in the presence 

of God.” {Apoc. viii, 2) 

In the verse, however, which immediately 

follows this last passage, it is added that “an¬ 
other angel came, and stood before the altar, 
having a golden censer.” So that clearly 
the seven spirits standing before the throne 
do not comprise all the holy angels, but con¬ 
stitute a group of specially privileged and 
glorious princes, singled out for highly hon¬ 
orable and important ministry. 


THE HOLY ANGELS 191 

There is even mention of another band of 
seven angels having the seven last plagues. 
( Apoc . xv, 1) But they are not spoken of 
as standing before the throne or in the pres¬ 
ence of God, and the question arises as to the 
rank or dignity of the group who are pre¬ 
viously mentioned, and to whom there is such 
frequent reference in Holy Writ. 

The words, “the seven who stand before the 
throne,” are so explicit that the obvious in¬ 
ference would seem to be, that those to whom 
they refer not only belong to the highest of 
the angelic choirs, that is, to those who in a 
particular manner stand in waiting before the 
majesty of God, but that even among these 
they hold an especially prominent and ex¬ 
alted place. The solemnity of the context 
where mention of them is first made by Saint 
John, and the intimate association with our 
Divine Lord, whose mighty and ever watchful 
ministers they are (for that would appear to 
be the meaning underlying the symbolism of 


192 THE HOLY ANGELS 

the horns and eyes) would suggest that these 
seven illustrious spirits are glorious among 
the angels themselves, and foremost princes 
of the heavenly court. 

There occurs the difficulty that they are de¬ 
scribed as “sent into the whole world,” and 
that the Angel Raphael in particular, who is 
one of them, was even sent on a prolonged 
mission of a merely private nature. 

To this difficulty, taking the latter point 
first, we might reply with Suarez (Bk. VI, 
ch. X, no. 45, in fine) that there seems to be 
no convincing reason why one even of the 
highest angels might not be sent to earth, not 
as an ordinary thing, but by way of exception, 
and as a mark of special regard for some 
saintly personage, even as our Lord himself, 
and His Blessed Mother have at times de¬ 
scended to earth to console or to honor some 
favored servant of God. Cornelius a Lapide 
too, observes ( Apoc . 1. v. 4, versus fin.) that 
we read in the lives of some great saints, 



THE HOLY ANGELS 193 

that they had a seraph deputed by God to 
act as their guardian angel. 

But the words, “sent forth into all the 
earth,” which are spoken of the seven spirits 
universally ( Apoc . v, 6) present, perhaps, 
a more serious difficulty. For they express, 
as it would seem, no mere exceptional func¬ 
tion of the seven, but one which falls to them 
as their habitual and especial lot. The dif¬ 
ficulty, however, might be effectually met, as 
it is met by some writers, by a simple denial 
of the distinction between angels who min¬ 
ister, and angels who assist before the throne; 
and an argument might be drawn in support 
of this denial from the fact that the Angel 
Raphael says pointedly of himself, that he is 
one of the seven who stand before the throne, 
and further, that the seven who are described 
as “sent forth into all the earth,” are also 
said to stand in the presence of God. 

Some theologians suggest that these mighty 
spirits may be the seven highest angels in 


194 THE HOLY ANGELS 

each of the seven choirs. This Suarez re¬ 
jects on the ground that one must then be 
assigned to the choir of thrones and another 
to that of the dominations, neither of which, 
however, are sent. Yet the suggestion of 
Suarez himself is scarcely happier. He sup¬ 
poses that they may all belong to the lowest 
choir, and yet have no definite ministry as¬ 
signed to them, being ever at the beck of the 
Most High for the execution of any task pro¬ 
portioned to their rank. He adds that we 
may even suppose that there are seven such 
in each of the choirs of ministering angels. 

This supposition, however, fails to throw 
any light on the identity of the seven referred 
to by the Angel Raphael, and by St. John in 
the Apocalypse. They surely are a definite 
group of angels, and apparently of exalted 
rank; and it affords us no clue to who they 
are or what they are, to suggest that there 
may be other groups of like number belong- 


the holy angels 195 

ing to various choirs. In a matter, then, 
which is so obscure, it may be allowed to each 
to hold what appears to him the more likely 
or the more attractive view. 

Special veneration has long been shown to 
these blessed spirits in various cities of Italy, 
and at Palermo in Sicily there was, as far 
back as the sixteenth century, a church dedi¬ 
cated to the seven with representations of 
them which were already ancient. It was 
the pious rector of this church, who went to 
Rome, in 1527, to promote devotion to them 
at the center of Catholic verity, and it 
was mainly through his exertions that the 
site of the Baths of Diocletian was secured 
for the erection of a temple in their honor. 
Pius IV gave to the celebrated Michael An¬ 
gelo the task of drawing up the plans, and 
when the work was completed, he solemnly 
dedicated it, in the presence of the College of 
Cardinals and a great multitude, to Saint 


196 THE HOLY ANGELS 

Mary of the Angels; that is to say, not di¬ 
rectly, but indirectly to “the seven spirits 
who stand before the throne.” 

From these seven spirits St. John wishes 
grace and peace to all the faithful, not as 
though they were the authors of grace and 
peace, but as ministers of God, charged with 
our welfare, and most ready to employ in 
our behalf the favor they enjoy with the King 
of kings, of whose court they are such glo¬ 
rious ornaments. It is for us, then, to de¬ 
serve their special protection by the fervor 
and frequency with which we invoke them 
and by the loving confidence with which we 
have recourse to them, knowing them to be the 
heavenly appointed patrons and protectors 
of all Christendom, and our intercessors with 
God, whom He has set over us to guard and 
aid us in our life-long struggle for the king¬ 
dom of heaven. 


THE QUEEN OF ANGELS 





CHAPTER XXXV 
The Queen of Angels 


A TREATISE on the holy angels, how¬ 
ever brief, would be incomplete with¬ 
out a few words in praise of her who is the 
glorious “Queen of Angels.’’ This, as every 
one knows, is one of the titles of the “Litany 
of Loreto,” which has the official sanction of 
the Church, being incorporated in the liturgy. 
It has also, we may say, the endorsement of 
the angels themselves. For is it not to them 
that we owe the beautiful Easter anthem in 
honor of Our Lady? And are not the first 
words, “Queen of Heaven,” an equivalent of 
“Queen of Angels,” or more than an equiva¬ 
lent, having even a wider meaning? 

Certainly, in the Kingdom of Heaven, the 

gauge by which all things are measured is 

199 


200 THE HOLY ANGELS 

heavenly grace, and in this, as Suarez de¬ 
clares, the Blessed Virgin surpasses not only 
the greatest saints, but even the highest an¬ 
gels. In fact, that illustrious doctor says 
that it is of faith that Our Lady is superior to 
them all in blessedness. It follows, then, 
that she surpasses all in grace, as beatitude is 
proportioned to grace. 

Hence St. John Damascene calls her an 
“abyss of grace.” And St. Epiphanius, ad¬ 
dressing her, says: “Excepting God alone, 
thou art superior to all others, nor can the 
tongues of men or angels worthily praise 
thee.” And St. Bernardine avers that her 
perfection is so great that only God can fully 
understand it. And, finally, St. Ephrem pro¬ 
claims her “holier than the cherubim, holier 
than the seraphim, and incomparably more 
glorious than all the rest of the heavenly 
hosts.” 

And indeed the grace which Mary received 
in her first sanctification surpassed the final 


THE HOLY ANGELS 201 

grace of the highest of the angels, as was 
only befitting in the case of her who was one 
day to be raised to the supreme dignity of 
Mother of God, and whom her Divine Son 
already loved as destined to that closest union 
with Him. ‘He loved her beyond angels and 
saints, and hence adorned her soul with 
greater grace than that of all other creatures. 

“Observe the seraphim,” exclaims St. Peter 
Damian, “and you will see, that all that is 
greatest is less than the Virgin, and that only 
the Artificer surpasses this work.” 

It is in this sense that Catholic divines un¬ 
derstand such texts of Scripture as the pas¬ 
sage at the opening of the 86th Psalm: 
“Her foundations are in the holy mountains.” 
That is to say, the grace which was for others 
the term beyond which they did not pass, was 
only a beginning for Mary, and was enhanced 
and intensified by numberless acts of the most 
perfect charity, until at the close of her long 
earthly career her grace and her merit were 


202 THE HOLY ANGELS 

indeed a boundless abyss, a treasure which 
to created intelligence was truly inconceiv¬ 
able. No wonder that Suarez, who makes 
some sort of computation of the final sum of 
Mary’s sanctity, holds that it is far greater 
than the combined sanctity of all the angels 
and saints. 

Hence St. Ildephonsus, as quoted by Su¬ 
arez, says: “As what she did was incom¬ 
parable, and what she received was ineffable, 
so the glory which she merited as a recom¬ 
pense, is incomprehensible.” And St. John 
Damascene says that “there is an infinite 
distance between the Mother of God and the 
servants of God.” 

Hence also, St. John Chrysostom affirms 
that there is nothing in the whole world that 
can bear comparison with Mary, whom he 
pronounces “incomparably more glorious 
than the seraphim.” And St. Lawrence Jus¬ 
tinian says that “deservedly whatever honor, 
whatever blessedness, was found in others in- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 203 

dividually, was abundantly present in the 
Blessed Virgin.” And St. Jerome declares 
that “to others grace was imparted by por¬ 
tions, but upon Mary the whole fulness of 
grace was poured out simultaneously.” 
And St. Peter Damian says that “standing 
forth amid the souls of the saints and the 
choirs of angels, and lifted up above them, 
she excels them in merit individually and 
outstrips the titles of all.” And he concludes 
with these words: “All radiant amid that 
inaccessible light, she so unites in her the dig¬ 
nity of both orders of spirits, that they are as 
though they were not, and in comparison with 
her they cannot and ought not to appear.” 

Mary then is indeed the “Queen of An¬ 
gels.” Her grace and supernatural blessed¬ 
ness lift her far above the most excellent of 
the elect, to an amazing height of glory at 
the right hand of her Divine Son. And the 
sweetness of her manner which endears her to 
all the blessed makes her worthy to reign in 


I 


204 THE HOLY ANGELS 

the everlasting kingdom of love. The angels 
bow low before her, as the Angel Gabriel did 
at Nazareth. It is a privilege for them to 
minister to her, whom with that bright spirit 
they recognize as full of grace, and they are 
thrilled with delight as forever they proclaim 
her “blessed among women,” a veritable prod¬ 
igy of the divine wisdom and omnipotence, 
the “unapproachable crown of all the saints.” 


EPILOGUE 



EPILOGUE 


T HE angels are, in a true sense, the crown 
of the universe. The mere lifeless ele¬ 
ments and the lower orders of living organ¬ 
isms show forth but very imperfectly the at¬ 
tributes of their Maker. In man, to be sure, 
made as he is in the image and likeness of 
God, the glory of the all-wise Creator shines 
out with far greater luster. But God is a 
spirit, and man’s soul, though spiritual, be¬ 
longs to an inferior category of spiritual sub¬ 
stances. The angels, on the other hand, are 
pure spirits, thus more closely resembling 
God himself, and in them His beauty and 
His majesty are most perfectly reflected. 

It is one of the blessings of our holy faith 
that through it we have been brought to know 
the angels, to realize their presence, and to 

enter into communion with them. St. Paul 

207 


208 THE HOLY ANGELS 

says: “But you are come to mount Sion, 
and to the city of the living God, the heavenly 
Jerusalem, and to the company of many thou¬ 
sands of angels.” ( Heb . xii, 22) 

Although these glorious beings are present 
everywhere about us, they might as well, for 
aught the world at large concerns itself with 
them, be far away in the most distant spheres. 
But we have come “to the city of tht living 
God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” which is the 
Church of Christ, the city that is built upon 
a mountain. We have drawn nigh “to the 
company of many thousands of angels,” and 
it is our faith that has brought us nigh. For 
without faith we could not have known them, 
but like the heathen, though on all sides sur¬ 
rounded and assisted by them, we should still 
have been far from them, as they would have 
been far from us—far from our thoughts and 
far from our affections. 

Surely we ought to be grateful for the gift 
of faith—for it is a gift, as the apostle re- 


THE HOLY ANGELS 


209 


minds us—and by evincing a due appreci¬ 
ation of our good fortune in having been 
brought within the pale of Holy Church and 
admitted to a knowledge of the wondrous se¬ 
crets which her divine Spouse has confided 
to her, dispose ourselves for the fullest reali¬ 
zation and the most perfect fruition of those 
truths, when at last the veil is drawn from our 
eyes and boundless light bursts upon them in 
the home of our heavenly Father. 

There we shall see how blessed is that 
“company of many thousands of angels,” and 
how happy it is for us that having loved and 
honored them here on earth, we are thence¬ 
forward to be most closely associated with 
them in the joys of the kingdom of heaven. 








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